


Maze of Memories

by ikn0wyoukn0w



Category: Stray Kids (Band), The Maze Runner (Movies)
Genre: Bad boy Changbin, Gen, anyways someone help me tag cause im not doin so hot with these, but hes soft for lix and jeongin, how do i even tag, hyunjin and seungmin are already together when the story starts, hyunjin is the baddest bitch, i guess, i want to beat seungmin up, idk how tags work, jisung is really bad at talking, just pretend that hours pass when they havent pls, kinda slow burn, lix is an icon, minho is nice, ngl, someone please save innie, someone save chan that man is so stressed, the end hurts, there's a plot twist, theres a lot of violence, time is so wack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:48:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 42,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27169547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikn0wyoukn0w/pseuds/ikn0wyoukn0w
Summary: Jisung still blankly stares at the other for two reasons.One, he doesn’t know what to say and he didn’t know what he was expected to say.Two, Jisung was still scared, in all that Felix never explained where he was or what he was doing there. It wasn’t like Jisung asked any questions but it would’ve been nice to know.“Well…” Felix says awkwardly at the silence due to Jisung not saying anything. He stood and wiped his hands on his pants to remove the building sweat from how nervous he was talking to him. Felix decided the best way to handle this was to recite the words that Chan had told him the day before.“Welcome to the Glade.”or--Stray Kids have been put in The Maze Runner-verse... along with a few other well-known idols and let's just say things don't go too nicely;)
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin
Comments: 22
Kudos: 99





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jisung's the last one ever and changbin doesn't know how to deal with that

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, this is the first time i've written something for this platform but here it goes. this story is a little crazy and it's been a while since I've written a story of this length so apologies because it's going to take a bit for me to get warmed up. That's all for this:)
> 
> edit: this sounds a lot more formal than it is because Grammarly took over my writings- i promise I don't actually write like this. also ignore mistakes, I will also be blaming Grammarly. it'll be better from here on out- ill fix this chapter later.
> 
> -logan<3

One could say that memories are something important. One could say they make us who we are. But Jisung does not think that way, neither does Felix, or any of them for that matter. They believe memories were something taken from them, and that is what makes them who they are now. Whoever they were before their lives and their families were taken from them are gone. They are family now. It is what they thought for a long time, at least.

"You know, your cooking never gets old," Hyunjin complimented Seungmin as he did every night.

"I am pretty sure Mark(Tuan) cooked that," Seungmin said.

"You can't even recognize your boyfriends cooking?" Jeongin said before breathing in sharply, "That's just cold, Hyunjin," The group of boys laughed.

"Do not test me, little one," Hyunjin warned. 

Once again, the group erupted in laughter. Things did not have to be that funny for the boys to find amusement in them. It was cut short by an alarm ringing throughout the glade, putting them into an immediate panic. 

Felix was more confused than concerned, “What is going on? That sound, what is it?” He tried to ask anyone who would listen when a boy just a little shorter than him stopped and replied that the box was coming back up.

He did not know the severity of the situation until he remembered Jeongin explaining the fact that the box only came up once a month, and Felix had only arrived the day before. He runs off to the middle of the glade to see what could have caused the box to come back up. 

As Felix is running up, he sees others beginning to open the box. Inside is not the sight they expected to see. Inside of the box, that was not supposed to come back up for another month, was a boy who looked no older than Felix himself. He was looking up at the rest of the group as if they would murder him in cold blood right there. Felix would not blame the poor boy for feeling that way as he felt the same way just the day before. He knows now, even if it has only been a day, that these glader people are not all that bad.  
Felix’s thoughts do not stop the poor boy from backing into whichever corner his back was facing. He felt terrible for him and especially because none of these boys think about their first experience up in the box anymore and beat up on anyone who does something embarrassing.

The boy who had told Felix about the box coming up just minutes before jumps in after a long silence between the gladers. He can not recall his name, but it seemed to be his job to welcome the newbies, or greenies as he kept getting called before he finally remembered his name.

“Who the hell are you?” The male begins questioning the poor boy inside the box, “Why did you come here?” Though he gives no time for answers, he keeps asking questions, “Hello? What is your purpose for being here?” 

“Hey, Changbin, calm down. Do you see the look on his face? I doubt he remembers anything,” Chan called down in an attempt to get Changbin to back off.

Felix took to mind the name of the male, he seemed to have a lot of answers, and Felix himself had a lot of questions. He had figured they would make a pretty good team.

“Even if he did, you are probably scaring him more by pretending to be mean,” Minho shouted from behind Chan. The comment earned a few stifled laughs which were promptly stopped by Changbin glaring at whoever was laughing.

Felix had learned yesterday that Chan was the leader of the glader people, and Minho was his second in command. It was tough to grasp the roles at first, but after a lot of repetition, Felix came to understand pretty quickly. The two jumped into the box, which resulted in the box boy trying to squish himself further away.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Chan starts cautiously, “We know it is confusing and scary, but we kind of just need you to trust us."

The boy looks around at the crowd of boys at the top of the box. He looked concerned at how he is going to trust all of them, especially when the short one had been yelling at him. Chan noticed this and laughed, “Maybe not all of us, but you at least have to trust us,” He said, gesturing to Minho right behind him.

The boy visibly relaxes and looks like he might get up and trust one of the two, which in turn relaxes Chan and Minho as well. He moves his hands to prop himself up so he can stand.

“Hey! What’s that?" Changbin asked, "In your hand?” Changbin points out after seeing the confused looks on their faces.

He had been closing his fists rather tightly, and to others, it might have looked like he was trying to hide it. To Felix, he seemed not to have noticed it was there until Changbin pointed it out.

Changbin steps forward to try and reach for the note, which results in the boy backing away once again, “What is it? What are you trying to hide from us?” He shouts as Minho moves to hold him back.

Changbin is gesturing for the boy to show them the note as he shouts, and even Chan tries to reach for it, but he backs away as far as he can instead of answering. He no longer looks like he wants to trust any of them and looks more scared than he did when they first opened the box. 

“You have to come out of the box,” Chan tried to coax the boy, but it was not working. Chan only got him shaking his head in response. With Changbin still yelling behind him, “Alright, where are the baggers? BM? Wonho? We have to get him out of here,” Chan ordered before moving out of the way. Chan did not want to scare him, but he did not need something happening to him once they got out of the box.

There is barely any room inside the box when two giants make their way inside. When he sees this, the boy in the corner looks as if he is going to lose his mind.

Chan once again takes notice in this, “They are not going to hurt you. We just need you to cooperate with us, please,” But nothing seems to be working, so Chan gives the go-ahead. 

As soon as they take a step towards him, he yells and starts kicking his feet to get away, even though he cannot move any further. BM and Wonho both struggle to get a hold of him, but when they do, it seems like he could slip through their fingers at any moment. He keeps kicking and flailing himself as much as he can, he is screaming, but no one can tell if there are words in those screams.

Felix sits there just feeling bad for him, though it did not get to this point for himself, he empathizes with him. While the two baggers struggle, whispers begin to make their way around the crowd of boys. Things that are not too nice about the boy in the box. It does not help that based on their schedule, he is not even supposed to be there.

“Stop it,” Felix hisses at the few boys next to him. Felix has been in the glade for just over a day, but he does not want to listen to the way they make fun of each other, “He is just scared,” He says to another boy to shut him up.

Felix is surprised when movement seems to cease inside the box, the yelling has stopped too. His eyes turn to the box, and he is both concerned and confused by the sight he sees. The boy looks to be unconscious. A small thought that he could be dead runs across his mind, but he pushes it to the far other ends of his brain. BM gives a sigh then looks at Chan, wondering what to do next.

“What does the note say?” Changbin asks as if someone was going to stop him from asking, but from the way Minho is looking at him, he would not be surprised if someone tried.

Chan mutters a ‘why did I do this to myself?’ before bending over the pick up the note. He takes his sweet time just to get on Changbin and is quick to bother nerves.

“Chan,” Changbin warns, “Just pick up the note,” He says, becoming impatient.  
The group laughs as Chan pretends that his back is hurting, “Oh! The pain!” he fake cries out before finally taking the note from the newbie.

Chan was not ready for what it was going to say, he did not know what he was expecting, but it was not what he laid eyes on.

“So? Are you going to tell us?” A builder Felix remembered as Wooyoung shouted down. 

“He’s the last one. Ever,” Chan said. 

***

“Jisung! Hello?” Someone waves their hand in front of his face, and when Jisung comes to, they laugh, “Where were you, dude?”  
“Huh? I have been sitting right here the whole time,” Jisung says bluntly, not understanding the question.

“Well I know that, but you spaced off while I was talking. Bet you do not even know what I was talking about!” The boy laughed.

Jisung assumed this person was his friend, but he did not have a name for them, “I know what you were talking about!” Jisung defended himself instead of asking the question he was thinking. 

It almost felt like Jisung was not in control of his words. Sure, he was the one saying them but the words coming out were not what he wanted to say.

“Yeah, okay, man. You have just been forgetful and spacey lately. I am not going to ask, but you should probably be… I don’t know… aware of it!” Once again, the friend laughed to keep the mood light. 

“I just feel that… I think there is something wrong,” Jisung blurted.

“Oh dude, is everything okay? Like, do you need someone to talk to? I am always here for you, man,” The friend said sincerely.

“What? No, not with me. I mean, the world, I feel like something bad is going to happen to us… all of us,” Jisung clarified to his new friend, who might be an old friend but he really can not remember at all.

“Jisung… I do not think you should be talking to me about this,” His friend said while looking around as if someone were watching.

Jisung followed his gaze around, but there was no one there, “What are you saying? You said I could talk to you, right? I don’t know… I’ve just had that on my mind a lot lately-” 

Jisung's friend cut him off, “Stop talking. You cannot talk to me about that kind of stuff, you know that Jisung,” His friend seemed on edge now.

“What? No, I don’t know that. I don’t even know where I am or who you are!” Jisung finally said what he’s been wanting to say.  
His friend stood up from the bench they were sitting on, Jisung had not even been aware of this fact until then, “Of course you don’t know who I am,” His friend laughed.

He stood too, “What are you talking about? You’re my friend!” Jisung shouted his assumption before realizing that maybe this is not what he thought it was, “Right?”

“Jisung, I’m not your friend,” The person laughed, “We’re not even acquaintances,” They continued.

Jisung felt panic rising in his chest, or it was the bile rising in his throat, it could have been the sound of his heartbeat in his ears, “Who are you then?” He asked, taking a step back.

Jisung turned his head to his feet when he couldn’t feel the ground beneath him anymore. He was shocked to see that there was no ground, his head followed the rubble that sat instead, turning around he saw ruins of the city and more after that. Jisung couldn’t even tell where he was anymore. One second it was quiet and the sky was blue, but the next there is no life, and he is staring at an orange sky filled with rage.

He turns back to the person and in their place is a creature with sticks, or what Jisung thinks are sticks, protruding from its body. It is built like a human, but there are blisters and sores over every part of showing skin. Jisung wants the vomit when seeing the creature, it looks like a science experiment on a zombie went wrong. Jisung has no time to react to what comes next as the thing lets out an ear-piercing screech before bolting towards him. It is not long before it reaches him and wrestles him to the ground, Jisung does not even try to stop it, almost like he can’t. Jisung has tears leaving his eyes as the creature screeches once more in his face.

What Jisung doesn’t expect is the creature to smile as it did. He didn’t know what was in its mouth but it didn’t look like teeth. The smile was wide, unattractive, and once again, made Jisung want to vomit at the sight of it. It leans closer to Jisung as he tries to lean away but it’s no use due to the concrete on the other side of his torso.

“Someone among them isn’t who they say they are,” It wheezed, almost as if those were going to be its last words.

The creature turns its head to the sky before letting out another screech. To Jisung’s ears, the scream sounded like laughter, as if it had completed its life goal as if it had won.

Of course, Jisung had many questions but only one prevailed at that moment.

Who is it talking about?

***

Jisung’s eyes open painfully slowly and not gracefully either. There are little eye crusts in most of both eyes. As he rubs them away, he looks around the room he has noticed to be in. It’s not too big but Jisung wasn’t taking up the majority of it. He realizes he’s laying on a cot now instead of the metal box he woke up in. Quickly, a light panic rushes through his body and his eyes are everywhere now.

He begins plotting his escape when he notices two people talking by the door. He can’t hear their words but it seems like one isn’t too fond of how the conversation is going. Jisung leans to try and hear the whispers. One is shorters and looks fairly young while the other seems more worn out than older but is older than the other.

“You want me to explain? But I barely understand this place and now you want me to explain it to him?” The younger whispers.

“I know it seems like a lot but we just need someone to empathize with him, Felix. You came up yesterday so you’re the closest we have,” The older addresses.

“No, Chan, I already said no. It’s difficult enough trying to understand it by myself-” Felix gets cut off.

“That’s also because you ask a lot of questions. Look, as soon as he knows that he’s safe, we’ll get Jeongin to start showing him around, but until then, I just need you to do this,” Chan pleads.

Jisung begins to wonder if maybe he should have fought a little harder to stay in the box. He felt bad for listening in on the conversation at this point but it seemed like it wouldn’t be going on for much longer so he leaned it just a little more.

“Fine!” Felix huffed, now upset that Chan had somehow called him out and convinced him to do it in the same breath.

The cot rustles and catches the attention of the two boys at the door, “Well, look who’s awake,” Chan smiles as he pushes Felix inside the room some more before closing the door behind him.

The two simultaneously look from the door to each other, Felix gives a sheepish smile while Jisung just blinks back. Still, the two say nothing and Felix seems a lot more nervous than Jisung does.

“Well…” Felix starts as he grabs a nearby chair to sit down, “My name is Felix, I… I came up in the box yesterday,” He said though he’s sure that he already heard that part of the conversation.

Jisung sat up slowly, his whole body felt sore like he had been working out for three days straight. He listened as Felix continued to speak about this new place.

“I know that I haven’t been here for that long, but Chan thinks it would be a good idea to calm you down,” Felix rambles which make Jisung think that the boy needs to justify his words, “But it’s only because of your little freak out earlier, it’s not like he thinks you can’t handle yourself. You probably proved that during your freak out as well and well I just feel like I should tell you all of that before I attempt to calm you down,” Felix finally stopped to see the look on Jisung’s face. 

Jisung still blankly stares at the other for two reasons. One, he doesn’t know what to say and he didn’t know what he was expected to say. Two, Jisung was still scared, in all that Felix never explained where he was or what he was doing there. It wasn’t like Jisung asked any questions but it would’ve been nice to know.

“Well…” Felix says awkwardly at the silence due to Jisung not saying anything. He stood and wiped his hands on his pants to remove the building sweat from how nervous he was talking to him. Felix decided the best way to handle this was to recite the words that Chan had told him the day before.

“Welcome to the Glade.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little rocky;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to post this last night but I got distracted so it's here in the morning instead:)
> 
> -logan<3

Jisung is startled when the door to the little medical room he is in flies open. Felix whips his head around and sees none other than Changbin looking a little more upset than he usually does, behind him is a slightly frightened Jeongin peeking his head further above his than you might think due to the height difference.

“You,” Changbin says pointing at Felix.

“Me?” Felix says confused. What would Changbin want with him? The two only spoke once and it was in the midst of glade-wide panic.

Felix doesn’t get any more time to dwell on all of the reasons Changbin is waving a finger in his face because the next time he blinks he is on his way out of the room. It wasn’t like he had a choice as Changbin was basically dragging him by his teeth(it was really just his wrist). 

Jeongin was left behind with Jisung and the two have no idea what just happened. The younger looks at the male before giving a smile, “I’m Jeongin,” He is nervous because he doesn’t want to upset him. The scene reminds Jisung of what he just went through with Felix, all he can hope for now is that Jeongin doesn’t start rambling, “So, you’ve probably been told a few things by now. Like how you weren’t supposed to come up in the box- not that we don’t want you here, it’s just the box only comes up once a month and Lix came up yesterday- oh that’s Felix by the way-”

Jisung wonders how he ended up in a place like this and why there are so many of them to ramble nervously when it’s silent.

***

“Hey! Where are we going? Chan told me that I was supposed to keep him calm,” Felix mutters as Changbin still drags him away from his duty.

“I don’t trust him. He comes up a day after you and just freaks out when we try to get him out of there,” Changbin, “He is suspicious on all scales and I will not leave anyone alone with him.”

“You left Jeongin in the room with him,” Felix informed him with no hesitation.  
“Jeongin’s different,” Changbin said finally stopping see that they were almost on the other side of the glade at that point.

“How?” Felix asked, “Also, I want to thank you for answering my question about the box earlier. Can I just ask you all my questions? You seem to answer them a lot quicker than the others,” Felix began his question spree. 

Over his less than two days there, Felix has already gained a reputation for not being able to utter statements, and if he does then it’s likely it after a question or going to be followed by one.

“No,” Changbin said, walking away immediately.

“What? But you dragged me out here- Where are you going?” Felix said, beginning to follow.

“I’ve got a job to do, I am Keeper of the Builders after all,” Changbin said, not stopping to talk.

“But, it’s past dinner time already. As far as I was aware, we stopped working after dinner. Or is it a Keeper thing to keep working?” Felix asked, coming up next to Changbin. When he didn’t get an answer, he kept asking, “How do you become a Keeper? Just by being the best or do you work up the ranks? If that’s so, then where do the old Keeper’s go?” 

Changbin regrets his decision on getting Felix out of the room and leaving Jeongin behind. He would very much prefer Jeongin now.

***

“And then Mark was like ‘the possibility of all those possibilities being possible is just another possibility that can possibly happen’ which confused the heck out of me,” Jeongin gave a forced laugh, “Because, you know, all the times he said possibilities. Oh! But that doesn’t beat the time that I was in the mess hall and Jae was serving food that day-” Jeongin was promptly cut off by Chan knocking on the door and peeking inside.

“Jeongin?” He says confused, “I could’ve sworn I left Felix here with him,” He says second-guessing himself.

“You did. Changbin brought me here, took Felix, and left me here,” Jeongin said gesturing to the room around him, “Not that you’re not the greatest person to talk to but I just wasn’t expecting it,” He had whipped his head to face Jisung who flinched at the sudden movement.

“Okay well let’s get you out of here. It’s getting late and you should head to bed,” Chan said stepping into the room to relieve Jeongin of the duty he wasn’t even assigned to.

Jeongin leaves the room without mentioning the fact that the sun is still in the sky, which leaves Chan alone with Jisung who is just hoping that he doesn’t also begin rambling aimlessly.

“You don’t have to stay here. We’ve got a hammock set up for you, it’s further from the other boys so you don’t have to worry about that,” Chan tries to offer comfort to Jisung but it’s still difficult as Jisung won’t accept it. He hasn’t even told the older his name yet.

Chan just nods, taking the hint, and leaves the room. Jisung is alone again. He exhales deeply, all the new people and things are overwhelming. He wants to know more but he also doesn’t want to ask. It’s not long before Jisung begins walking around the room to examine what he can see in hopes of getting any answers.

He only finds small medicine bottles and just enough supplies to fix an open wound. Nothing tells him what he’s doing there, what any of them are doing there, or where he is. 

Jisung takes it upon himself to explore the rest of the glade alone. He thinks he can find answers better that way. He can’t bring himself to trust these people he just met. Jisung takes one last look around the room before slowly opening the only door. He pokes his head out to make sure the coast is clear for him to exit the room without being seen but gives a big sigh when he sees what’s waiting for him outside the door.

A boy whose name he couldn’t remember leans against the door frame, “We’d figure you’d come out on your own sooner or later,” Jisung steps outside of the room before giving him a look down. He meets eyes with the other before he continues, “Chan couldn’t find Felix, so you’re stuck with me. I’m Minho,” He says letting his hand come to the front for what looks like a handshake. Jisung doesn’t respond, verbally or physically, “Well, come on. There’s still sunlight left so I can show you around a bit before it’s literally lights out,” Minho laughed at his own joke because Jisung stayed unmoving.

Minho began to walk away from Jisung and oddly enough, Jisung followed him. He didn’t know why he wasn’t put off by the presence of this new person, at least not like he was the others. Jisung doesn’t ask Minho questions either, of course, he wants answers but he still needs to be cautious with who he decides to trust. He wouldn’t let some pretty boy who was good with words stop him from being wary.

“Alright,” Minho starts as they make their way outside. Jisung notices that Minho was right about there being just a little bit of sunlight left, “So, the building we just left is Homestead. Few of the boys, mostly Keepers, sleep there. But, it's got other rooms of good use in it too. For example, in the back is the slammer which is where we keep the gladers who need a little timeout, or there is the room we were just in which is basically like a medical wing,” He lets himself take another breath before continuing, “Right across the way are the gardens, there’s water that gets pumped in from who knows where and it’s just where we grow all of our crops. It never rains here so that water is all we got. Other boys sleep just over there, it’s actually pretty soft. I’ve slept there myself once and it’s not like we’ve got all the room in the world around here,” Minho once again tries to joke a bit but gets met with no response. He turns to see if the other is giving a smile or at least looks like he might for once but the boy he is looking for is no longer anywhere in sight.

Minho turns in circles wondering where he could have gone. How long had he been talking to where he hadn’t noticed. Chan was going to get at him later for this. He hears a shout in the distance near the watchtower, specifically Changbin, which means he got to the greenie before Minho could. How wonderful.

***

“That’s not true!” Hyunjin says, hanging off Seungmin.

Seungmin had just told Hyunjin that he liked Felix’s nose better than his, though he didn’t actually mean it, it seemed that Hyunjin was taking it a little too much to heart.

“You know I’m just messing with you,” Seungmin said, giving his boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek.

“You two disgust me,” Changbin said, making sure the two could see how much he wanted to get rid of his dinner at the sight of them.

“You’re just jealous,” Hyunjin responded with his nose turned up.

“Say what you want. You two are just gross,” Changbin gets up and starts his trek to the homestead, he is exhausted after listening to Felix and then having to listen to the lovebirds.

He stops in his tracks at seeing someone he wasn’t too fond of making their way to the watchtower. Greenie. Changbin mutters curses to himself as he makes his way over to him. No one seems to care that this random person who came up in the box when they weren’t supposed to, is just walking around the glade like he owns the place.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Changbin shouts as the boy climbs the ladder leading to the top.

Jisung ignores him and keeps climbing. He doesn’t care for Changbin the way Changbin cares for him. Anything Jisung seems to do gets on the shorter’s nerves, but Jisung really couldn’t care less. He keeps climbing and when he reaches the top he finds something that sparks an idea as Changbin reaches the bottom of the watchtower.

“Hey, greenie! I asked you a question! This is usually the part where you answer-” Changbin doesn’t complete the sentence as a rock comes barreling towards him. He dodges it, “What the hell are you doing?” He shouts up as he backs away from the ladder to get a view of what Jisung is doing at the top.

Jisung throws rocks down in an attempt to shoo Changbin away from the tower. He just wants to be alone and gather his thoughts but it’s tough when someone is always around him.

It’s not long before a group has gathered at the bottom in an attempt to coax him down but he wasn’t leaving the safety of the tower anytime soon. Boys yell up at him occasionally but most of the time they’re ducking out of the way so they aren’t pelted by a rock.

Jisung had(for plot reasons because I have no idea why Teresa actually had that many rocks up there) found a bag of rocks on the top platform of the tower. Soon, Chan and Minho arrived and were informed of the situation. 

At first, Chan insists on being the one to try and calm him down before sending baggers to retrieve him, but Minho insists that he wants to try and convince him that there is nothing to be scared of. Chan is hesitant at first but agrees when Minho explains how Jisung didn’t even try to get away from him when he had seen him earlier.

Minho doesn’t make his presence known when he starts making his way up the ladder but he wasn’t hit by a single rock. This makes him think that he’s better at dodging rocks than he thinks or he’s right about the boy who’s throwing them. When he gets to the top he opens the door and sees a smile spread across the boy's face. 

“You seem to be having fun,” Minho points out as he pulls himself onto the platform completely. He gives a glance at Minho before letting the smile disappear from his features, he continues to throw rocks, “Alright, let’s stop terrorizing Changbin?” Minho suggests before the boy finally sits back and looks at him.

Minho sighed, “Look, I know that it’s a little scary… well maybe a lot of scary. But I get it, we all do. We were all in your position at one point or another- well maybe not like this,” Minho buffed a laugh as he gestured to the situation, “My point is that we need you to trust us or at the very least a few of us. There’s no way I could expect you to trust all of us at once, especially Changbin, the little bugger,” He continues to talk in hopes of giving the greenie some closure, “We’re all you’ve got now- well us and your name!” Minho exclaimed remembering that he didn’t even know his name,” They, the creators, let us keep our names. If you don’t remember it now then it should come back to you soon-”

“Are you guys done yet? We’re getting tired of standing around!” Changbin yelled from the bottom. If you listened close enough then you could hear others hiss at him to be quiet.

Minho was about to turn to the greenie so he could just say to ignore Changbin and that he was always like that. But Changbin wasn’t always like that. A good majority of the time Changbin was funny and opened up to people pretty easily or, you know, likable to the average glader. Minho didn’t get the chance to say anything.

“Jisung. My name, it’s Jisung,” He said knowing that he has to get by somehow and Minho seemed to be his best bet.

Minho gave a smile, “Well Jisung, I’m Minho. But you already know that because I already told you. Now, how about we come down from here and get some dinner?” He suggested but he was met with an immediate no from Jisung, “Are you sure? Eric makes some pretty good food,” he offered. He was still given a shake of the head.

Minho gives a nod before beginning his trek back down the ladder. He felt satisfied with what he got out of Jisung, though it was only a few words. But he knew more about Jisung than anyone else in this glade and even though he would tell everyone the new greenie’s name as soon as he reached the bottom, he still felt the satisfaction of getting the boy who didn’t trust anyone, to trust him just enough.

When Minho did reach the bottom he heard Changbin’s words to Chan about how Jisung was untrustable. He was so confused why the other was so adamant about trusting the greenie. Minho was pretty positive that everyone was confused with Changbin’s attitude towards others lately.

“Does no one else find this suspicious? We’re not getting another glader and all you can worry about is if he feels safe or not?” Changbin huffs, probably frustrated at this point.

“Cool it, Bin, maybe if he feels safe he might remember something. If you think he’s special then he’s bound to know something,” Minho said, joining the conversation.

“Were you able to get anything out of him?” Chan asked with hope in his voice.

“I bet you couldn’t get him to say a word-” Changbin started.

“His name is Jisung,” Minho said with a smug look at Changbin, “He doesn’t want dinner but I am going to bring him some anyway,” He starts to walk away, “Oh! And he loves to terrorize you,” He said evilly to Changbin, “So, don’t get too worked up about every little thing, yeah?”

Changbin gives a look at Minho before coughing, “Whipped.”

***

Jisung has his time alone with his thoughts interrupted when the trapdoor next to him opens suddenly. Minho’s head pops into view with a smile on his face.

“Hey, newbie. Or should I say Jisung,” He said, setting small portions of food onto the platform.

“Just… call me Jisung,” He replies quietly.

“Sounds good, Jisung,” Minho says happily as he pushes himself onto the platform as well, “Now, it’s time to eat!” He says handing the other the food he had brought up.

“I don’t want anything,” Jisung said, thinking that Minho didn’t understand when he shook his head no previously.

“Well, that sucks, because I’m not leaving until you eat something. Trust me, you’re going to wake up, starving, and you’re going to have to wait hours before the first cook is awake,” Minho laughed, he had been talking about his own experience from years before.

Jisung didn’t respond and just took some of the food, he didn’t know what any of it was but it didn’t taste bad so he didn’t complain. He couldn’t eat a lot, he just wasn’t hungry, but he still ate a decent amount so he wouldn’t end up in the situation that Minho had listed.

It was also a bit difficult because Minho hadn’t taken his eyes off Jisung since he started eating, claiming that ‘he just wanted to make sure’. He still ate and when he really couldn’t eat much more he said so, Minho seemed satisfied with it so he took the leftovers and then left himself.

Jisung was alone again. He didn’t have any covering but it wasn’t even cold out so he didn’t even need one and even if he did, there was no way he was just going to ask. Though Jisung couldn’t remember anything about his past or even about himself, he missed home. He missed the place he used to reside in, he didn’t want to be in this place with all of these people. He barely tolerated talking to Minho but now that he’s shown trust to him, he knows he’s got to get to know others eventually too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a lot of mentions of running for some reason-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm trying to get a post out every day and its 11:50pm right now so I will technically make it;)
> 
> current song: blood runner by kelypso
> 
> -logan<3

Jisung isn’t sure what wakes him up at first but it startles him and he can’t go back to sleep. The first thing he sees as his eyes open is the greyish-blue sky of the early morning. He sits up quickly when the deep rumbling making its way throughout the glade becomes his main focus. He glances around trying to find the source and when he does, he’s not too sure he wanted to find out.

For the first time, Jisung gets a good look at the towering walls that border the glade. Oddly enough, he’s not surprised to see them but he is surprised that he didn’t notice them the night before. They had to be taller than the Lotte World Tower but Jisung can’t remember what that looks like so he can’t compare.

The rumbling stops at that moment and that’s when Jisung’s eyes gravitate to a wide opening in the middle of one of the walls. He’s sure that it wasn’t there the night before but he hadn’t even noticed the walls, to begin with so he actually wasn’t all that sure. A slight panic rises inside of him, he’s confused with the purpose of the opening.

He glances down to the ground in front of the entrance in time to watch two boys take off running through the opening. Jisung assumes it's an entrance at that point but his thoughts are only of wonders to where it goes. He shuffles forward in hopes of getting a closer look but feels something catch at his feet. His eyes glance down to find a ball of thin wool covering that definitely hadn’t been there the night before.

Jisung thought most of his questions had been answered the night before but after the morning’s events, he was thoroughly more mind-boggled than before. He decides that he needs to see what’s beyond those doors for himself because these people have obviously not been telling him everything that he needs to know. Jisung would say everything that he wants to know but it isn’t like he’s actually been asking them questions, but you would think they would mention that there are doors out of this cage. Jisung can see that no one else seems to be reacting to the fact that they open so it must be a normal thing.

He starts making his way down the watchtower, stopping every now and then to make sure no one is coming over to bombard him, but there are very few boys up and moving around at this time. Once Jisung gets to the bottom he’s startled by a sleeping figure, specifically Minho. He sighs knowing that the glade must think that Minho is the only one he trusts, which is true to an extent. But, he thinks it was unnecessary to make the poor guy sleep at the bottom of this ladder just in case he had left in the night. If Jisung was right about those doors not being there the night before then it wasn’t like he could actually go anywhere.

Jisung fights the urge to pull up Minho’s sleeping bag just a little bit further so he stays comfortable but he remembers he needs some answers about those doors. So, he turns and begins walking to them. He watched gladers go just run right through so there shouldn’t be a difference with himself, right? His steps feel small because everyone he takes feels like they aren’t bringing him any closer.

***

“I know it seems like your job sucks more but I have to deal with slicers all of the time!” Hyunjin countered to Seungmin who was still half asleep.

“Do you see how early it is? I have to do this every day,” Seungmin replies as his argument.

“I’m sitting here awake with you, that’s not a valid argument,” Hyunjin points out.

“You’re weird and choose not to sleep in. You have a choice and I don’t,” Seungmin huffs as he makes his way around the kitchen.

“But you know how slicers are,” Hyunjin complains, “They are the most annoying people on this planet.”

“I don’t think you’ve met Mark then,” Seungmin jokes.

“Which Mark? We have two of them,” Hyunjin turns up his nose at Seungmin who gives a fake gasp, offended.

“How dare you think that I would slander my fellow cook!” He laughs, “I’m talking about the Mark that can’t say a sentence without the word ‘dude’,” Seungmin shakes his head with a laugh while preparing little things around the kitchen.

Seungmin glances at Hyunjin with a smile of fondness for their little morning banter when something behind him catches the eye of the cook. By now, everyone’s heard that the name of the greenie is Jisung. Hyunjin takes notice and follows his boyfriend's gaze to see Jisung walking with a purpose. The two don’t think twice before getting up to go stall the newbie.

***

Jisung’s line of sight is taken over by two beanpoles stepping in front of him. He can’t recall seeing the two before but he doesn’t care for who they are.

“Hey! I don’t think we’ve met yet. I’m Hyunjin, and this is my boyfriend, Seungmin,” Hyunjin says to catch Jisung’s attention again.

He blinks at them before shifting his gaze to the opening behind them. He knew where this was probably going to but his goal was to see what was beyond that opening. 

Hyunjin stepped in front of Jisung’s sightline again, “Oh, those silly things? They’re nothing to think about. Have you had breakfast yet? Seungmin is a cook so I’m sure he would be happy to whip something up for you,” Hyunjin says elbowing his boyfriend for some backup.

Jisung doesn’t listen to any more of it as he starts his trek to the opening again. He knows they have to be hiding something from him especially if two boys that he’s never met are trying to stop him from going through those doors. He doesn’t know if he’s doing it out of spite or curiosity anymore, but Jisung wants to make it through those doors.

As Jisung gets closer he hears the voice of a wretched builder calling out to him, “Hey, greenie! What are you doing?” He shouts at Jisung but it’s ignored.

It isn’t until someone grabs his arm to stop him from walking that Jisung finally acknowledges Changbin’s calls, “Are you hard of hearing, greenie? What do you think you’re doing?” Jisung can’t remember if there was spit flying from his mouth but he wouldn't doubt it.

“What does it look like,” Jisung replies deadpanned and done with Changbin’s attitude towards him.

“So he does speak!” Changbin turns as if there is an audience but as far as Jisung could tell, it was just Hyunjin and Seungmin watching the two, “Did no one tell you about the rules?”

Jisung looked at him puzzled, “I don’t know if you have noticed but no one has really told me anything.”

Changbin scoffs, “What’s that supposed to mean? I don’t believe you. Someone had to have told you something. We always explain these things to the newbies,” He explains.

“Yeah, because you guys are so welcoming. Where’s the committee?”

“Maybe we haven’t told you anything because you haven’t told us anything,” Changbin crosses his arms and takes a step closer to Jisung.

At this point, Jisung notices that more and more people are starting to notice the commotion as they wake up. It wasn’t like the argument was staying quiet.

“Yeah? What exactly am I supposed to tell you guys?” Jisung asked. He was frustrated with the way he was being treated. As far as he knew, besides coming up a little early in the box, he came up just like any other.

“Something I don’t know would be nice!” Changbin’s voice was becoming louder with every reply.

Jisung thought he saw his own brain with how hard he rolled his eyes, “Something you don’t know? How about the fact that you’re a loser who doesn’t know the first thing about human decency-”

“Okay! What in the world is going on here?” Chan cut Jisung off before he could continue.

Changbin turned to Chan with a look of a child that was about to get their sibling in trouble, “Greenie here, wants to go into the maze.”

Jisung’s head almost breaks at how fast it whipped to face Changbin, his eyes now wide as they comprehend the words. Those around the two physically cringe as Changbin turns to face Jisung with a smug look for the wrong reasons. Changbin is under the impression that Jisung wasn’t expecting him to tattle when that is definitely not why Jisung looks like he’s seen a ghost.

“What did you just say?” Jisung breathes out, “Maze? What does that mean?” He asked taking a step towards Changbin.

Changbin realizes his mistake but tries to pretend like he did nothing wrong, “Felix is usually the one who asks the unnecessary questions,” He says bluntly before turning back to Chan.

“I do not!” Felix says before being promptly cut off with a few, yeah you do’s from nearby gladers.

Jisung ignores the comments before looking back at the entrance to what is apparently a maze, “Someone needs to explain what the hell is going on right now!” he shouts, taking a few gladers by surprise.

“We will, we just need you to calm down,” Chan said, taking a step forward cautiously.

“Yeah because you guys told me everything last time I calmed down,” Jisung said with doubt dripping from his words.

He was becoming overwhelmed with the situation once again. It wasn’t hard for a giant group of boys, who wanted him to be complacent, to be intimidating. Jisung’s eyes went from the group of boys all trying to get him to calm down to the doors of a maze which he had no idea about before two seconds ago. Things were going too fast for him to stop himself but he felt like it was in slow motion all the same. 

Jisung barely heard the calls behind him before he realized that his legs were carrying him straight for the maze doors. He could hear the footfalls of someone on his tail and was surprised at how he was actually keeping a good pace. He brushed it off to adrenaline but then again, this felt familiar.

He could feel the morning air in his lungs and he felt more refreshed than anything he can remember. It’s crazy how far Jisung has managed to carry himself in the short amount of time that he almost forgot about those behind him. The doors get closer and he thinks he might actually make it when something catches his eye.

Two boys, one supporting the other, are making their way back into the glade. Jisung didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that one of them was clearly hurt. At this sight, he allowed himself to stop running almost immediately. His mind had so many thoughts running through it and most of them he didn’t know how to comprehend.

Those thoughts were interrupted quickly when someone crashed into the back of him taking both of them down. Jisung hadn’t been standing still for very long but it wasn’t enough time for the person chasing him to stop or move out of the way resulting in the demise of both of them.

“Why would you just stop?” Felix groaned as he rolled off of Jisung.

Jisung wheezed as he tried to catch his breath. The sudden takedown was not something that he would’ve liked to experience, “Why wouldn’t you?” He replied between breaths. Though in pain, he was on his feet seconds after to find out what had happened to the boys coming from the maze.

Felix stayed on the ground in pain while everyone rushed past to find out why the runners were back so early. Of course, he was confused too but he was used to this schedule of theirs yet, so it didn’t seem all that weird to him. He was very wrong about this fact.

“What are you doing on the ground? Get up,” Changbin said, walking by him.

“If you can’t tell- I’m trying,” He huffed in an attempt to sit up while still in pain, “How did Jisung do that?” He muttered to himself.

Everyone gathers around the two runners concerned and confused, some can’t see that one is barely walking while others can only see that.

“Johnny! What happened? Why are you guys back?” Chan asks before getting a good look at Johnny’s running partner.

“It’s Jaehyun. He’s-” Johnny doesn’t finish before letting himself and Jaehyun collapse to the ground.

“Medjacks!” Minho shouts to no one in particular. Hyunjin is already there but it looks like he might need help.

“Johnny. Stay with us man, I know you’re tired but we need to know what happened,” Changbin kneels down next to the two.

“He was stung,” Johnny huffed before letting exhaustion take over.

Jisung stood more confused than ever, “Stung? Stung by what?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jeongin clowning changbin for crying a week straight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boom! another chapter:)  
> things are starting to take form>;)
> 
> -logan<3

“Is anyone going to answer me?” Jisung shouts when he gets no response.

Minho steps forward, “Jisung, I know things are a little confusing right now but it’s not the time to be asking questions.”

Jisung’s eyes widened in disbelief. He looks at the two unconscious boys laying in front of the entrance to a maze. He looks back at Minho before gesturing at the two on the ground, “I think this is the perfect time to be asking questions!” He shouted.

Minho sighed, “You will get your answers. You just need to wait.”

Jisung is about to go off again. He was never told anything the last time someone said that but he couldn’t even utter a word before he felt a tight grip on both of his arms. Looking left and then right he noticed the two guys who picked him up from the box just the day before, BM and Wonho if he remembered correctly.

“Wait-” He still can’t say anything before they start dragging him away from the group, “Hey! Let me go. Where are you taking me? Stop! Let me go!” Jisung starts shouting as he makes his way further from the group of gladers who are more concerned about Johnny and Jaehyun.

Minho catches up with them, “Jisung, do you remember where gladers go when they need a little timeout?”

Jisung gives an unclear look to Minho who just raises his eyebrows in response. Oh. He does remember where gladers go for a timeout. They were taking Jisung to the slammer. 

“I can walk by myself,” Jisung muttered as he tried to shake himself from the grips of the two baggers.

“We’re well aware but we’d rather not take any chances,” One of them replied.

Jisung gets a view of the slammer and it isn’t what he was expecting but he’s not surprised. He takes notice of how flimsy the doors are and realizes he could get out if he actually wanted to, but even though he wanted answers, he was being given more alone time.

Finally, since the first time he’s arrived, which was only the day before, Jisung comes to terms with how overwhelmed he’s been. He lets out a shaky but relieved breath as tears begin to well up in his eyes. He doesn’t sob, nor does he cry aloud, he just lets the tears fall down his face. It would have been refreshing if it weren’t for the thick smell of dirt and sweat that seemed to line the walls of the makeshift cell.

When Jisung finally runs out of tears he realizes how hungry he actually is and regrets not taking Hyunjin’s offer for breakfast. As if on cue, Jisung hears footsteps approaching, though he can’t see who it was yet, due to the way the door was set up.

“Hey, I brought you some breakfast. It’s not much but you’re not supposed to have food in the slammer so I couldn’t take much,” The godsend named Jeongin said as he leaned down into Jisung’s view.

“It’s alright. I appreciate this,” He replied, reaching up to grab what was mostly bread from Jeongin’s hands.

As Jisung began to eat Jeongin spoke, “I wasn’t there when it happened, but I heard that you tried to run into the maze,” He said, “That true?”

He nodded in response. It wasn’t his proudest moment because of the events that followed, especially when Felix launched himself into Jisung, but he did try. If only those two boys didn’t come back as they did, then he could’ve made it.

“The food isn’t going anywhere,” Jeongin said with a laugh.

Jisung looked up, his eyebrows knitted together. He was confused but he couldn’t see what Jeongin did. From the younger’s point of view, Jisung sat with his cheeks packed with the food he had been given. Though Jeongin wouldn’t doubt Changbin taking food from Jisung if he found out he was eating in the slammer, no one else was going to do anything about it. 

Jeongin realized that he should probably get to the gathering to not raise suspicion about his whereabouts, “I’ve got to go,” He stood, wiping his hands on his pants, “But Jisung?” 

The boy in the slammer hadn’t taken his off of Jeongin but he knew that the younger wanted his attention completely. So Jisung raised his head just slightly to show this to Jeongin.

“You have to be a runner to go into the maze,” He said before walking away.

Jisung was puzzled by this, as he was most things he was told. So, his first question wasn’t ‘what’s a runner?’ or even ‘why do you need to be a runner?’. He let his hands ruffle his own hair before he muttered a simple, “Why does everyone here talk in vague sentences?”

***

Jaehyun and Johnny had been taken care of by the med-jacks and Chan decided that a gathering needed to be held. He was planning on holding one later in the day but after the morning's events, it was clear that it needed to happen a lot sooner. 

The entire room is full of talking and what sound like arguments led mostly by Changbin. Chan doesn’t even have room to speak. He gives a heavy sigh and notices Jeongin walk through the doors and give a sheepish smile to him. He shakes his head as he knows what he went to do but he doesn’t have time to dwell on it.

“Alright! Everyone I know-” Chan tries but he is still ignored.

“Hey! What’s Jisung doing out of the slammer?” Someone in the crowd shouts into the abyss of others also shouting.

It ceases for a moment as Changbin stands immediately and whips his head around to search for the boy who should be in a cell.

“Thank you. Now, I am going to be the one speaking and we’re going to do this like the nice, calm, and collected gladers that we are,” Chan says, gesturing for Changbin to take his seat once more, “I know this morning's event have caught everyone off guard but we really need to decide what we’re going to do,” Chan says shifting his weight to his other leg.

“I say we banish Jisung,” Changbin says, which receives groans and complaints for him to be quiet.

“Changbin. I understand that you’re upset too but we can’t just banish the newbie without reasoning,” He explained.

“You guys are invalidating his feelings like you haven’t felt the same,” Jeongin spoke up, “We were all in his place at one point, though he is more curious than most of us are, he still feels like he’s different because we are making him feel that way.”

Changbin scoffs, “He is different, Jeongin. He shouldn’t even be here. I don’t know if you have all forgotten but he’s the last of us. How are we supposed to treat him like us when he’s not like us.”

“Would you just can it, Bin. Weren’t you the one who cried for a week straight when you got here?” Jeongin replied, not missing a beat.

A few snickers made their way across the room, besides Felix who broke out into a complete cackle at this information. Changbin turned to face Chan who looked away innocently as if he had no idea who would’ve given Jeongin that information. 

It was true, Changbin was the second person to come up in the box after Chan, so he’s the only one who knew about that week filled with tears. Well, he was the only one who knew about it. Now, almost the entire glade knows about it.

“What’s going to happen to Jaehyun?” Mark asked, he wasn’t the one who cooked besides Seungmin daily, he was the one deemed a slopper the same day he arrived because no one else wanted to deal with him. They labeled them Mark 1(tuan) and Mark 2(lee) because they had the same names. 

“I don’t know yet,” Chan huffed out. He wanted to be able to answer all of their questions but he didn’t have all of the answers.

Minho jumps in to help Chan out, “How about we just focus on the things we can take action on-”

“Like banishing Jisung!” Changbin cuts him off as if it were a great segment to get to the actual point of the meeting in his mind.

“We’re not banishing Jisung!” Minho replies defeated, “Would like to join him in the slammer? Because, at this point, I’m starting to get worried that you’re going to do it yourself if we don’t stop you,” He says looking at Changbin disappointed.

This finally gets Changbin to shut up and sit down. This took a little tension out of the room which gave Chan more room to think about his next words.

“We need to have someone watching Jisung at all times. He’s too curious about the maze and there is no way I can trust him to not take off through the doors,” Chan said looking at the gladers before him to be put on Jisung watch duty.

The group of boys in front of Chan immediately started avoiding eye contact with their leader. There was no way that any of them wanted to be paired up with a sporadic boy who either didn’t talk at all or asked too many questions very aggressively. 

“Jeongin, you seem fond of the greenie. You’ll be the main one on Jisung duty. Then we’ll also have-” Chan took time to look around the room a second time, “Minho! You seem pretty close to him as well. Congratulations! You have both been awarded the pleasure of watching Jisung,” He says with no enthusiasm.

“Can I help?” Felix raises his hand as if it were a classroom, “Jisung and I are both new, so wouldn’t it be reasonable to stick us together?” 

“I wouldn’t do that to Jisung,” Chan said with a pity smile before turning to Minho, “Have you ever heard him utter a statement?”

Once everything had been agreed to, though reluctantly, the gathering was called to an end. Changbin was disappointed that he couldn’t get what he was trying to advocate for but he knew it was a long shot anyway.

The boys were piling out of the meeting room, rather messily one might add. It was time to finally start the day, though they felt like they had been through two days in two hours. Chan gave a huff before turning to tell Jeongin that he would start by keeping an eye on Jisung but the younger was nowhere in sight.

“I’ll handle it for now,” Minho stepped up.

“Are you sure you’re going to be able to do this? You seem a little too fond of him,” Chan pointed out.

“I just think he’s confused us with these bad guys which we’re not. I’m sure spending time with gladers who are more sympathetic will make him see that,” Minho replied, not really answering the question.

“Ah, I see what this is about,” Chan chuckled.

“What?” Minho asked, “What’s what about?”

“You don’t want to actually make sure he is okay. You just want to keep up this image that you’re the nicest person on the planet,” Chan said, a laugh here and there, “Changbin and I just thought you had a crush on Jisung or something.”

Minho didn’t say anything more as he left to find Jisung in the slammer.

***

Seungmin had walked all the way out to the corner of the deadheads to give a daily update. He makes sure he isn’t followed or seen, especially by Hyunjin. It’s important for his and the gladers' own sake that things stay secretive like this.

“Which one of you buggers is it?” Seungmin says aloud as he looks down at two beetle blades, one of which he uses to communicate.

He gets his answer when one crawls up closer to him and a call out for Seungmin is heard. He picks up the small metal creature to continue his task.

“I’m here. But do I have a few things to say. What is up with sending Jisung up in the box? My understanding is that you would send him from the maze and the runners would find him stung, but not only did you not do that, you stung one of the runners!” Seungmin shouts quietly to the bug creature.

“We understand your concern, Seungmin. But, whether you knew about the change of plans or not, you will not speak to your superiors with such a tone, do you understand?”

“I don’t care to understand. Jaehyun wasn’t just stung in broad daylight. The day has barely started!” Seungmin is furious with the way things are running without him on the inside.

“You need to calm down, Seungmin,” Someone on the other end doesn’t sound like they’re playing games which make Seungmin suppress his anger.

He lets out a sigh, “All I’m saying is that I should have been informed on the change of plans that way I could also plan accordingly. Jisung is the cause of panic but it’s completely worsened since Jaehyun’s been stung and the results may not be what you’re looking for,” Seungmin tried to inform the other end.

“You don’t run things over here. You will sit tight until further notice. Come tomorrow with an update,” The line was cut off after those words.

Seungmin sighs as he sets the beetle blade back where it belongs. He rubs his temples in frustration. Now he needs to come up with a different plan of action by himself because those good for nothing creators have done nothing but play around all day. He was tired of it and he wanted to prove that he was just as capable as the rest of them were.

What Seungmin didn’t know is that just 10 feet away was Jeongin, who had more or less heard the entire conversation. His eyes were wide and he was struggling to keep his breathing at a pace where it would not be heard but he would still be breathing. It wasn’t working. Jeongin was panicking and knew that he needed to get out of there before Seungmin noticed him.

Slowly, Jeongin began taking steps backward, when he got far enough away he would run as fast as he could to tell someone but he needed to get that far first. One step. Two steps. Jeongin feels as if time had stopped yet with every step he felt like it could be a mile closer to surviving his encounter. Three steps. Four steps. He could almost be there. He could almost get away. Five steps. CRUNCH.

Jeongin felt a fear shiver up his body as he looked down to see that his left foot wasn’t on a patch of dead leaves. It had found its way upon a twig. A very loud twig.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> someone save jeongin pls;(

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoop, another chapter! ngl it kinda hurt to write this one. but things do be moving along.
> 
> -logan<3

Footsteps make their way closer to Jisung’s cell which makes his head turn, “Who’s there?” He calls out. He doesn’t know who he wants it to be but he knows that he doesn’t want to see Changbin’s face appear through the flimsy cell door.

“It’s just me,” Minho says as he leans into view. Slight relief fills Jisung for no reason other than it wasn’t Changbin, “The gathering has just ended so I thought it would be a good time to inform you about a slight change in how things are gonna go from now on.”

Jisung was confused. He had come to terms that it was going to be a recurring emotion during his stay at the glade. The questions and confusion about his situation were never going to change. 

“What’s a gathering?” Jisung tried asking as Minho reached a hand down to help him up.

“Nope, the questions are Felix’s thing. Let’s keep it that way,” Minho said grunting as he pulled Jisung out of the hole in the ground. 

“But what’s a-”

“A gathering, my dear greenie, is just a meeting between us gladers. Usually about important things. But, that’s it. Nothing to worry about,” Minho confirmed, “Most of the gathering was about you.”

“Me?” Jisung said confused, though he shouldn’t be.

“Yes, you. Changbin wants to banish you,” Minho informed him. Jisung was going to ask what that meant but let Minho continue, “Which means, you would be sent out into the maze,” He said, forgetting that it was Jisung’s goal earlier in the morning.

“Then banish me,” Jisung said, in his mind, it was the perfect opportunity to get out. Since he’s arrived, he has felt nothing but the urge to escape. 

The two had been walking away from the slammer but at those words, Minho stopped. He lost that small smile that was spread across his face. Something else was there instead. Jisung, who had taken a few more steps not expecting the sudden stop, walked back to him.

“Minho? Why’d you stop-” Jisung was cut off.

“Listen, I know you’re confused about this place but going into the maze is not something you want to do. It’s dangerous, it’s scary, and frankly, you don’t understand half of the things that go on around you. I know you don’t trust us and you really don’t have to. But listen to what we’re trying to say. You will die if you go out there alone,” Minho sounded hurt by the fact that Jisung was so excited to go into the maze just to die.

Jisung stood without words. He didn’t know what Minho was expecting to come from that whole speech. He knew Minho wasn’t going to tell him what makes it so dangerous but he really couldn’t argue the fact that things could be worse out there than they were in the glade. Jisung’s curiosity is just something that would always get the best of him, especially in situations where he has to figure everything out on his own, “Okay,” He said.

Minho’s face contorted, obviously not expecting that as an answer, “Okay? What do you mean by ‘Okay’?” He asked in an exaggerated tone.

“I mean okay. I don’t know what else you want. I’ll heed your warning mister second in command. So... okay,” Jisung said, “Now what else did you talk about at your glader-ing,” He says, continuing to walk in hopes that Minho would do the same. He knows he pronounced it wrong but the serious situation was making him more uncomfortable than he originally thought.

“It’s called a gathering,” Minho corrected as he caught up, “We all came to an agreement about you. Well, what’s going to happen to you. Changbin is the only one who wants to banish you, we still aren’t sure why, but obviously we said no-”

“So the agreement is that you aren’t going to banish me?” Jisung asked, hoping to actually get an answer.

“No-”

“So you are going to banish me?”

“What? No- would you let me finish?” Minho huffed at the mess of a conversation, “The agreement we came to is that you’ll be under watch by either Jeongin or myself at all times!” Minho said excitedly. Jisung was evidently not amused, “Isn’t that just great?”

“I’m sure it’s going to be just fantastic,” Jisung says with absolutely nothing to show that he means the words.

Alone time was all he really wanted most of the time and now he’s being told that he’s never going to have it again. That’s just what he wanted to hear.

Minho leads him to the watchtower and they make their way up to the platform. It’s quiet between them until they get to the top. The entire walk there Jisung hadn’t taken his eyes off of the maze doors, which now had two guards to make sure people weren’t taking unnecessary leaves.

“Now, it’s time you heard the rules. I’m not sure if you’ve heard them yet but I’m going to tell you again if you have,” Minho said, taking a seat and patting the spot next to him for Jisung to do the same.

Jisung didn’t respond and Minho took this as a go-ahead for him to continue, “There are only three so I won’t be keeping you here forever. Rule number one, you never go outside the glade. Not unless you’re a runner. Which you are not, so don't leave the glade,” Minho looked at Jisung who seemed like he was going to ask a question. He held a hand up to stop the other, “Please hold all questions for after I finish. It’s easier that way.”

Jisung deflated but still decided to listen and wait for Minho to finish, “Rule number two, you never hurt another glader. You’ve heard it before but all this,” Minho gestures to the glade, “Would fall apart if we didn’t trust each other. That’s why we need you to trust us,” He explained, taking another look at Jisung before continuing, “The third and final rule, you do your part. We don’t take slackers around here. Everyone here has a job to do and they do it,” He finishes, “Those are our only rules,” Minho finishes the rules but he remembers that he should probably explain a few more things, “Before you ask any questions. I think I should tell you about the maze,” He gestured for the opening, “Those doors close each morning and each evening. There hasn’t been a day where they don’t and we’re lucky they haven’t missed a day because what comes out after those doors close is why we only send runners into the maze. There are these creatures, we call them grievers, that stung Jaehyun this morning. We’ve never actually seen one and those who have aren’t around to tell the story. We don’t know why it was out so early in the morning but things are starting to change. Changbin’s convinced it’s all because you came up in the box when you weren't supposed to and brought that good for nothing note that says you’re the last of us.” Minho finally finishes his long spiel about the glade and the maze.

“How long have you been here?” Jisung asked though it wasn’t his original question.

“We’ve been here for 3 years that last time I checked, but the time flies around here,” Minho responded with a light laugh.

“No, not all of them,” Jisung pointed to the gladers walking around below, “I mean you. How long have you been here, Minho?” He clarified.

Minho was taken aback by the specificity of the question. Why did Jisung want to know more about him? He answered anyway, “I’ve been here for around two years. I was like you. I questioned everything and I even tried the maze once too. We can see how that turned out,” Minho laughed. “I’m sure that was a little more than you wanted but you’re the one who asked.”

“I see,” Were the only words that Jisung said still hung up on his original question.

Minho notices that Jisung still just wants to ask a question, “And now you can ask your question.”

Jisung exhales as if he had been holding his breath, “What’s a runner?”

***

Seungmin’s head whipped in the direction of the sound. It was suspicious at how loud it had been in the deafening silence, the tension before he even saw who had been standing there was thick. Seungmin’s eyes met with a pair of wide ones belonging to Jeongin. He looked like a deer in headlights. He looked terrified. Not of the situation. Of Seungmin. They don’t blink at each other. They just stare. The quiet of the two was suffocating. What was he doing there?

Jeongin gives a nervous laugh while gesturing to the woods around them, “What nice weather we-” He didn’t finish the sentence before he took off in a dead sprint for the open glade.

Seungmin doesn’t hesitate to follow. He needs to stop the younger before he reaches the glade. If anyone finds out about this then his reputation was doomed not only in the glade but at WICKED, they would look down on him more than they already do if he let his identity be discovered. Seungmin is ultimately faster than Jeongin and he catches up quickly. Jeongin feels fear as he can hear the footfalls coming closer with each movement forward. It’s not long before Seungmin’s is close enough where he can tackle Jeongin to the ground below them. The two wrestle for a beat before the older wins and pins him. It wasn’t a difficult fight. 

Jeongin, still struggling, tries to reason, “Please, don’t hurt me. I won’t say anything, I promise,” He contradicts himself by immediately burning out his throat by screaming for help as soon as he finishes the sentence. It was cut off quickly by Seungmin’s hand.

Jeongin is scared. He doesn’t know what to think. It’s Seungmin. He trusted him. They all did but it seemed like he was betraying them but working with the creators. Seungmin helped them. All Jeongin could think of is how he was a part of all of it. He was hurt by what he discovered.

“You will not say a word about this. About what you saw and heard,” His hand tightened over the younger’s mouth, “I will kill you and everyone you tell. Their deaths will be your fault. Do you understand me?” Seungmin asked, his voice low and dripping with something sinister.

Tears begin leaving Jeongin’s eyes as he nods. He doesn’t want people to die. If telling people about this will get them killed then he’s going to have to keep it to himself. No one is going to hear it from him. His lips are sealed. He will not kill anyone.

Seungmin can’t actually kill anyone, not without raising suspicion from other gladers and getting reprimanded by the creators. If anything, they will kill all of the gladers themselves. They’ve got clothes experiments. Other mazes. If it really came down to it, then all of them were expendable.

“I’m going to take my hand away and you’re going to stay quiet,” Seungmin ordered.

Once again Jeongin nodded which prompted Seungmin to remove his hand slowly. The younger cried just a little louder but he didn’t let them make noise because he was afraid of what Seungmin would do if he did, “Why are you doing this?” He cried quietly. It was almost hard for him to breathe with how much he was trying to stop himself from crying.

Jeongin thought back to his conversation with Hyunjin and what led him to be there in the first place. 

***

It was right after the gathering. Jeongin cleared out of that room faster than all of them to go visit Hyunjin and see how the two runners were doing. He enjoyed Hyunjin’s presence the most of all the gladers. There was something so safe about being around him but part of it probably had to do with the fact that he was a med-jack.

“And now someone has to be watching him at all times. I escaped really quickly so I’m sure Minho was put on duty instead,” Jeongin said laughing next to Hyunjin. He was focused on other things though.

Jeongin gave a sly smile, “Looking for your boyfriend?” He said with a nudge. 

Most of the gladers loved to tease the two about their relationship, it was funny really. Jeongin heard that Seungmin came up in the box with cut up hands from having tried to pull and open the metal cage from the inside. Hyunjin was the one who treated him and gave him some explanation about the glade. They’ve only been together for a few months but Seungmin came up months before that, so Jeongin had heard.

“Yeah actually. Did you happen to see where he went?” Hyunjin replied, facing the younger.

He smiled proudly, “In fact, I do. I saw him go towards the deadheads after the gathering,” He informed Hyunjin, gesturing to where the group of trees would be if they were outside.

The taller seemed to tense after this reply. Jeongin barely notices as his mind is everywhere else. Hyunjin didn’t know that though so he tried to play things off like he was calm.

“Once he comes back, can you tell him that I need to see him?” Hyunjin asked Jeongin.

“I can just go tell him right now,” He said happily, wanting to oblige.

“No!” Hyunjin replied a little too quickly and a little too loud which startled Jeongin, “I mean, he’s probably busy and I just don’t want to interrupt. Just… wait until he comes out, do you understand?” He asked, trying to make things seem as normal as possible.

Jeongin nodded, giving the older a weird look, “Yeah, okay, I’ll wait.” He turned his back and left but not without giving glances to Hyunjin all the way out.

But Jeongin didn’t listen. He thought he would be doing a good thing by going into the deadheads to let Seungmin know that his boyfriend wanted to see him when he was done doing whatever he was doing. And, when he was done he could go hang out with Jisung so Minho could do his second in command duties. Hyunjin would thank him later at lunch or dinner and things wouldn’t have changed. Nothing would have changed. But, now Jeongin was in this inescapable situation that he had put himself in. He was to blame for this.

***

Jeongin’s words rang inside of Seungmin’s mind. ‘Why am I doing this?’ He contemplated. Did he even know what he was doing? He looked at the younger in the eyes and wondered if any of this would be worth it. He was hurting someone who trusted him so much. Seungmin was never fond of watching someone cry, it didn’t make him sad, it made him uncomfortable. Tears were unnecessary in his field of work. He used these feelings to utter something he never thought he’d get the chance to.

“It’s the only way.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jisung finally gets a few answers  
> felix figures changbin out  
> and hyunjin knows about seungmin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yikes- i know i haven't posted, i kinda lost motivation but I have found it again so here you go!  
> i will be updating on time once again
> 
> -logan<3

“I know it might be a little hard but can you tell us anything?” Chan asked cautiously.

Johnny had woken up and Jaehyun not long afterward but now Chan was asking questions to get a grip on what happened while the two were out in the maze.

“I turned my back for two seconds,” Johnny said, “Two seconds. There was no sign of a griever anywhere. But, next thing I know, Jaehyun is screaming in pain. I tried asking him what happened but he was already going through the changing,” He seemed disturbed by the whole encounter, “We were only out there for about 45 minutes plus the way back which took double that,” He finished explaining.

“Someone is going to have to get something out of Jaehyun at one point or another,” Hyunjin puts out there.

“He’s going through the changing and you still want to make him talk?” Johnny asked becoming a little upset at the suggestion.

“We have to try before he’s too far gone,” Hyunjin replies defensively. 

The tension is thick and panic in the glade is high. Chan doesn’t want to blame it on Jisung specifically but his arrival is what seemed to have caused the beginning of their downfall. Chan couldn’t think of what else to do as things around the glade were slowly getting worse and worse. How was he supposed to keep them safe when he was unsure of when the next bad thing was going to happen.

“What we need now is a way out. I know we’ve been looking for as long as we’ve been looking but at this point, it might be our best bet at stopping all of this,” Chan said carefully.

It was obvious that some gladers didn’t even want to leave. It was easier staying in a place where they knew what would happen than going out into a world that they could barely remember. Chan wouldn’t oppose those who would potentially choose to stay but he needed to get those who wanted out, out.

***

“Alright, it’s getting pretty close to lunchtime,” Minho says as he stands from his place and stretches, “You coming with me, or am I bringing food back here?” He asked.

Jisung sighed knowing that either way Jisung would be around Minho the whole time. He stood and pat his hands on his pants a few times, “Sure,” He said plainly.

But to Minho, to say that he wasn’t feeling the least bit satisfied was a lie because he was feeling like he had just won a prize by getting Jisung to come down from his nest so quickly, and without protest.

“Off we go then,” Minho said, beginning to climb down.

Jisung wasn’t that hungry so he figured he wouldn’t stick around the mess hall place where they eat for too long. Maybe he could slip away from Minho during this time. He laughed in his head, remembering the first time that he wanted to get away from Minho, he just walked away. It wasn’t very hard at all. Jisung assumed it might be more difficult because now it was Minho’s life mission to keep an eye on him, but he wouldn’t know unless he tried.

In front of what Jisung recalled as the homestead, was a place full of benches outside a nearby kitchen where he assumed the cooks did their job. He recognized Seungmin serving other gladers as they walked by with small serving trays. Jisung didn’t get his food from Seungmin though, a different cook who Minho called Eric served him. 

Jisung follows Minho to a table not too far from the doors which would make for a great getaway. The two sat down and started eating, Jisung wasn’t familiar with the type of food he was eating but it wasn’t like it tasted bad so he kept shoving it into his mouth. At one point he glances up at Minho but stops when he notices that the older is already staring at him.

He keeps eye contact, “What?” Jisung asks.

Once again, Jisung had shoved so much food into his mouth it looked like his cheeks were going to burst, “You can slow down. No one but Changbin is going to take it from you,” Minho jokes.

At this reply Jisung looks around suspiciously as if Changbin was sneaking up on him, “Jeongin said something similar earlier,” Jisung blubbered, mouth still full of food.

“No kidding,” Minho laughed, “Wait, when did you eat earlier? You didn’t have breakfast,” He pointed out.

Jisung took it upon himself to shove more food into his mouth to avoid getting Jeongin in trouble for bringing him food when he wasn’t supposed to have it.

He was close to finishing his meal which meant he was close to getting up and leaving when Minho wasn’t looking. He was prepared to make a getaway. One second the table only held the two of them, the next it was completely full and then some.

“Hey! You got the newbie to leave his cave,” One glader pointed out, “You deserve a medal Minho.”

“Jackson just shut up and eat your food,” A boy next to him hissed, “Sorry about him,” He directed at Jisung.

“How’d you do it?” Felix asked Minho as if it were some magic trick.

“I just… asked?” 

“Felix, please. Stop asking questions and eat. And stop asking questions after you’re finished too,” Changbin complained.

“Alright, since there’s a good amount of you here. I’ll introduce everyone,” Hyunjin stood and began pointing, “You already know Chan, Changbin, Felix, Minho, and I. Those loud ones we don’t tend to claim- Hey! Who threw that?” Hyunjin shouted after dodging flying food.

“We are not doing this again,” Chan stood letting Hyunjin sit down, “The one who threw the food is BamBam, he never remembered his name so we gave him one, he’s also a trackhoe. Then we have Jackson and Wooyoung. The two of them are builders with Changbin. There’s Mark 1 and Mark 2. They have the same name so we usually just refer to them like that. Mark 1 is a cook and Mark 2 is a slopper(I know it’s confusing but don’t worry they aren’t in the story much). That’s everyone who is here. You’ve probably met a few others by this time too so you’ll learn everyone else gradually,” Chan finished sitting down to continue his meal.

Jisung blinked knowing he retained none of that information. He also came to the realization that he wasn’t going to be alone for a very long time. He finished his food anyway and just sat listening to the conversation.

“Has anyone seen Jeongin?” Felix questioned after a quick glance around the place.

“Enough with the questions,” Changbin let his forehead hit the table in front of him.

“No, he’s right. I haven’t seen Jeongin since after the gathering,” Hyunjin mentioned, thinking back to his order to the younger before that. This caused a slight panic rise inside of him. What did he do?

Jeongin walks through the doors at that moment, as if they had summoned him. Seungmin takes notice and lets Eric take over. He walks over the Jeongin, throwing an arm around him and saying something while laughing which in turn makes the younger laugh as well. The two seem tense but only someone who was looking for the fact could notice it. 

“Hey Jeongin, we were just talking about you,” Chan mentioned.

“You were?” He replied.

“Yeah, we hadn’t seen you in a while. Where you been?” 

Jeongin became nervous suddenly. He hadn’t thought about what he would say when people would ask where he had gone, “I was…” He started but his mind was blank.

“With me,” Seungmin said as he patted him on the shoulder, “He was hanging out with me for a while.” 

Hyunjin immediately tensed and looked in their direction. He searched for the signs, looking everywhere on Jeongin’s face. He looked scared of Seungmin even if no one else noticed it. Hyunjin did.

Jisung felt the energy change next to him and glanced at Hyunjin to see him obviously suspicious of the situation. He didn’t think too much of it but there was something off with the way Hyunjin’s mood shifted at those words.

The group takes it and continues joking around during their midday break but Chanbin had enough of it seeing that Jisung wasn’t even trying to be a part of it. He shouldn’t be trusted and he was going to make that clearer every time he got the chance. He dropped his hands to hit the table to show he was annoyed which caught Felix’s attention.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, concerned.

“What’s wrong?” Changbin repeated, raising his voice, “What’s wrong is that you guys are trusting this squirrely kid who came up in the box!” He shouts receiving groans and complaints in response. Changbin stood to let himself continue but Jisung cut him off.

“What did I ever do to you?” He says, also standing to meet Changbin’s energy.

Changbin was furious that Jisung finally stood up to him face to face. He was furious that no one was taking him seriously. He was furious about the fact that Jisung existed at all. He wanted their lives to go back to how it was before the other had come up in the box.

“You showed up,” Changbin said, holding back all of the anger he had coursing through his veins. 

“Boohoo, stop being a baby and focus on real problems,” Jisung raised his voice.

This sentence made something click for Changbin. All he felt was rage towards a single boy standing in front of him. One hand reached forward to grab Jisung by the collar of his shirt while the other winded back to punch him. The situation was quickly averted by their other friends stepping in. Minho split Changbin’s hand from Jisung’s shirt and gave a push back while Felix helped in keeping him at bay.

Minho stood half in front of Jisung, “Take a walk, Bin,” he said. 

Changbin didn’t look like he was going to comply but Felix stepped in as well, “Come on,” He said trying to lead him away, “You need to cool down,” He continued. Slowly Changbin started moving away from the group, “Alright, let’s go,” He finished as Felix finally got him to break eye contact and leave.

As soon as Changbin had gone, they all turned to Jisung who hadn’t said a word with his head down. 

“Are you alright, Sung?” Minho asked.

Jisung hasn’t responded when Hyunjin turns to Seungmin, “I need to talk to you,” Seungmin glances back at Jisung with worry, “Let’s give him some space,” Hyunjin assured him. Jisung needed his space and Hyunjin has needed to talk to Seungmin for some time now.

***

“Hey,” Felix said as he followed Changbin, “Bin, do you want to talk about it?” He asked as he caught up. He still received no response, “Hello? Changbin-”

“What do you want?” Changbin said, finally turning to acknowledge Felix’s presence. 

“What I want is to know what just happened in there. You almost hit Jisung,” He said.

“I know, I was there,” He retorted.

“Can we talk about why?” 

“I’ve already said why. Everyone thinks I’m just being paranoid but there is something wrong with that kid! Haven’t you noticed that everything’s changed since he got here?”

“I’ve barely been here for a day longer than he has, Bin. There’s no way for me to possibly know that,” Felix's voice got quieter in hopes that his being calm would get Changbin to do the same.

“Well then trust me when I say that things have been completely different since he came up in that stupid box,” He huffed.

“Wait… I see what this is about,” Felix said.

“What are you talking about?” Changbin responded confused.

“It’s just- I realize that every time you talk about this you never say anything about Jisung doing something wrong. Only the fact that he’s changed things because he came up in the box.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” 

“It’s got to do with everything. Because it’s not that you don’t like Jisung, it’s that you don’t like the change you’ve associated him with,” Felix explained.

Changbin was silent because he didn’t know what to say. He doesn’t think Felix is right, not at first. But the more he thinks about it, the more it makes sense. Of course, he would never admit that but when he glances at Felix, he can already tell that he knows he made Changbin realize this fact.

“That’s what I thought,” Felix said with a satisfied smile.

“You didn’t prove anything,” Changbin retorted as he continued walking.

“But you didn’t deny it,” Felix sang his way.

“Who says that I have to?” Changbin said before silence fell over the two of them.

“So, about that week that Jeongin was talking about-” 

“Never bring that up, or so help me, I will never answer one of your questions ever again,” Changbin said, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Felix gasped, “You wouldn’t.”

“You wanna and find out?” 

Changbin received a laugh in response before silence fell over them again.

“Jeongin was acting weird today,” Felix thought aloud.

“What do you mean?” 

“I don’t know. He just seemed really anxious while we were eating lunch,” Felix said.

“I really didn’t notice,” Changbin responded trying to think back to when the group was sitting at the table.

“That’s because you were burning holes through Jisung the entire time.”

“Alright well, I think this whole conversation has just been about mocking me but going back to Jeongin. I think he’s fine. He’s only been up here a month longer than you so he’s probably still adjusting,” Changbin reasoned.

“You’re probably right,” Felix said letting his mind wander from the subject.

***

“So what did you want to talk to me about?” Seungmin asked, turning his body to his boyfriend.

“It’s just been a while since we’ve had some time to ourselves,” Hyunjin responded.

This caused Seungmin to laugh, “We hang out all the time.”

“I’m talking about me and you. By ourselves. Not surrounded by a bunch of other sweaty boys,” He said.

“What about the med-jacks? They kind of need you with Jaehyun and all,” Seungmin said.

“Jae’s a big boy. He can deal with Jaehyun and the slicers by himself just fine,” Hyunjin joked.

The silence that fell between them after that was nice. It wasn’t an awkward silence (hehe) and it wasn’t uncomfortable for the two of them. It was this silence that prompted Hyunjin’s mind to wander to Jeongin’s demeanor at lunch. He looked nervous, almost scared when he and Seungmin made their way to the group.

Hyunjin turned to face Seungmin and just stared at him for a moment. The other made eye contact with his already staring boyfriend and became confused.

Seungmin jolted away, “What?” He asked as a smile grew on his face, “Why are you staring at me?”

Hyunjin inhaled and exhaled deeply, almost sad or disappointed. Seungmin couldn’t read his expression and was concerned. He turned to face him the same.

“What’s wrong?” Seungmin asked, not because he thought something was wrong, but because he didn’t know what he should say with the way Hyunjin was looking at him.

Hyunjin, with his face unreadable, finally spoke, “You know that I know, right?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's mostly dialogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i may have lied about constant updates but I promise that i'm trying!
> 
> -logan<3

Chan put his pack over his head. He was nervous because it had been years since he stepped foot in the maze but it was the only way. Everything about it felt nostalgic.

“It’s way too late!” Minho repeated.

“We only just had lunch. They were out there for barely two hours. We will make it back with time to spare!” Chan argued.

Jisung didn’t see what the big deal was about especially since Minho made it very clear that only runners were allowed in the maze. There should be no problem with a runner and the leader of the glade going in there to look for answers. 

Felix and Changbin walk up at this point due to the louder arguing coming from Chan and Minho.

“What’s going on? Aren’t Changbin and Jisung the ones who yell at each other?” Felix cut in, earning a glare from everyone.

“What are two arguing about?” Changbin asked.

Minho huffed before gesturing towards Chan, “He wants to go into the maze but he’s not going to make it back in time if he does.”

“What’s the big deal?” Jisung finally spoke.

“The big deal is that there is not enough time. If they go in now, they won’t make it back before the doors close again,” Minho said, frustrated.

“What if I go in too? I can help,” Felix offered, “The more people, the faster you guys will figure out what happened, right?” 

“That’s not a bad idea,” Johnny said as he finished suiting up, “Weren’t you planning on making him and the newbie runners anyway?” He asked Chan.

“Yeah,” Chan responded thinking for a moment.

Changbin spoke before anyone else could, “No.”

Felix turned to Changbin, “What do you mean?”

Chan nodded, “He’s right. It should just be me and Johnny.”

“You two aren’t going at all!” Minho shouted.

After this, more shouting ensued between the group. Besides Jisung, everyone was yelling something about their opinion on the two boys going into the maze.

“We are losing time!” 

“That’s what I’m saying!”

The group continued before one by one stopping to watch Jisung, who had been putting on a pack and a different pair of shoes, looking similar to Chan and Johnny. Soon, the whole group was silently staring at Jisung as he finished up.

He finally looks up to see the eyes of everyone. He blinks at them for a moment, “What?”

“What are you doing?” Changbin asked.

“Getting ready.”

“For what?” Felix asked.

“I’m going with them,” He said.

“Absolutely not!” Minho shouted immediately.

“Felix has the right idea about getting more done with more people, he just had the wrong idea about volunteering himself,” Jisung turned to Felix, “Don’t take this the wrong way, you seem super great, but you don’t seem the most reliable for a quick thing like this,” He faced the rest of them again, “So, I’ll go with.”

“Deal, but we should probably get going,” Johnny said before anyone could protest.

“He’s right. We have to go now if you want us back on time,” Chan said.

Minho just walked away from the group upset. He had expected to persuade them but he wasn’t expecting Jisung to stand up and volunteer himself, especially after the conversation they had earlier in the day. It’s not long before they are running off into the maze. Changbin and Felix watch at the entrance and wait for the trio to disappear behind the first corner before walking away.

Changbin flicked Felix in the arm, “Ouch! What was that for?” He whined.

“That was for volunteering yourself to go into the maze,” Changbin said.

“Jisung did but I’m getting in trouble?” 

“Jisung can kick rocks for all I care,” Changbin swung his hand in the direction of the maze, “But you,” He pointed at Felix, “Need to be more careful. You’ve probably heard but I will tell you again,” Changbin took a step in Felix’s direction, “The maze is a dangerous place.”

Felix watched as Changbin began to walk away, “I bet Jisung wouldn’t be getting this type of treatment,” He muttered.

***

Jisung’s breathing was ragged but he was keeping a surprisingly good pace with the runner. Johnny expressed this fact to the group every 10 minutes so Jisung wasn’t forgetting anytime soon. Johnny leads that way with Chan almost at his side. He would turn around every now and then to make sure Jisung was still behind them. He felt like it was taking hours to get to their destination when Johnny finally stopped.

“Are we taking a break?” Jisung wheezed.

“No,” Johnny said, “This is it. We’re here.”

“So, what do you need us to do?” Chan asked.

“Just look around. Anything helps,” Johnny replied.

Jisung stands still for a moment and almost becomes dizzy with how many times he spun in circles while looking at the walls towering above him. His eyes were probably wider than when he first got there. So many things had unraveled in less than 24 hours that it was almost odd to think that Jisung had only come up the day before.

“Hey,” Johnny calls out which catches Jisung’s attention. The two make eye contact, “I know you’re new around here but we’re really trying to find answers out here.”

Jisung just looked away and continued to walk along the way, looking for anything that might help.

“Maybe one of the grievers didn’t make it back before morning? That’s the only thing I could think of,” Chan offered.

“Even if that was true, why didn’t either of us hear or see anything?” Johnny debunked, “It was completely silent before he was stung.”

Jisung wandered further away from the two, dragging his hand against the wall. His eyes wandered up again, the walls were covered in ivy stretching up and down. He couldn’t hear if Chan and Johnny continued their conversation because a thought ran through his head. He didn’t understand it and before he could even think more upon it, he asked a question.

“What section are we in?” Jisung turned his head to the two who were further from him than he remembered.

Johnny and Chan walked closer, “I don’t know. Johnny?” Chan said.

“We’re just outside of section seven,” Johnny replied with his moving around the walls in search of something that might tell them what happened to Jaehyun.

It was at this point that Johnny realized what Jisung had just asked. Tension rises between them as he becomes concerned with the situation. How did Jisung know that there were sections? Chan felt the same after a moment more and the two took a step forward cautiously.

“How do you know about those?” Chan asked.

“About what?”

“The sections! How do you know about the sections?” Johnny asked. He began to understand a little of the suspicion that Changbin felt towards Jisung.

Jisung looked frightened as if the two were going to pounce at any moment, “I… I don’t know,” He was probably just as confused as Johnny was.

“No, I think you know something and you’re not telling us,” He responded, clearly upset.

“I think we should head back,” Chan interjected trying to avoid a potentially hostile situation. Johnny didn’t seem to want to drop the subject but Chan kept going, “I mean it, Minho will have my head if we’re not back before sundown. The grievers won’t have a chance,” He joked in hopes to lighten the mood.

Johnny didn’t acknowledge it and began the trek back to the glade while Jisung refused to make eye contact as he followed. Chan gave a huff as he started a jog. Things just keep getting worse, don’t they?

***

By the time they reach the glade it’s still an hour before the doors close. Chan would shove that in Minho’s face for as long as they lived because of how insistent he was that the trio wouldn’t make it back.

They weren’t expecting things to go the way they did when they got back. For starters, Jeongin was waiting at the doors for them and Minho was nowhere to be seen. Chan assumed because he was still upset that they left the glade in the first place.

“Where have you guys been? I was worried you weren’t going to come back! There’s only an hour left! Why did you go out there with almost no time?” Jeongin was beginning to ramble on.

“Jeongin. We’re fine,” Chan assured, “Besides, you said it yourself, we still have another hour. And we’re here now so the what if’s don’t matter anymore.”

Jeongin physically relaxed, “I guess you’re right. I’m just glad that you’re back,” He smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> how many things can go wrong in a single chapter?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies for not updating. I started thinking of ideas for other aus  
> look out for those in the future- whoop!
> 
> current song: Stackin Money by Kelypso
> 
> -Logan<3

Seungmin felt a panic rise within himself. What was Hyunjin talking about? His eyebrows knitted together as he continued making eye contact with his boyfriend. He had to act like he didn’t know what he was talking about.

“You know what?” Seungmin had all the things he had done wrong, all the things he had done to betray his fellow gladers, all the secrets he had kept from them. What did Hyunjin know?

Hyunjin gave a slight smile as he began to speak, “You really thought that I wouldn't notice?” He was obviously trying to avoid a direct answer to put Seungmin on edge.

Unease settled in Seungmin’s stomach, he knew that Hyunjin wasn’t answering on purpose. 

Seungmin laughed to mask how nervous he felt about the situation, “Come on, what are you talking about?”

Hyunjin joined his laughter, “I’m trying to say that you’re bad at hiding things,” With these words, Seungmin felt like he was going to burst, he felt like he was holding his breath even when he wasn’t, “I know you try to hide it but you care more than people think you do. I’ve noticed you’ve been spending more time with Jeongin and I can tell he’s different because of it,” He finally said, seeing more confusion on Seungmin’s face.

He felt his whole body lighten at hearing these words. Of course, he was just overreacting about what Hyunjin meant and it really wasn’t as deep as he thought it was. But Hyunjin meant what he said. Seungmin may have interpreted it positively but it’s not really what he meant. He knew what his boyfriend was doing but he thought that with everything else going on, it might be the least of their problems.

Shouts are heard in the distance which makes both of their heads turn towards the source.

“Hyunjin! Where is Hyunjin?” Mark is shouting as he runs around frantically, “Has anyone seen-” Mark stops as he makes eye contact with the target of his search. He begins rushing over to the spot that Hyunjin and Seungmin sat, “Hyunjin! Jae needs your help,” He huffed.

“What do you mean? What’s going on?” Hyunjin said standing quickly.

“It’s Jaehyun.”

When Hyunjin made it to his required destination it seemed like complete chaos had ensued, and in all honesty, it had. Aside from Jaehyun’s incessant screaming, Jae, Wonho, and BM all struggled to hold him down. They shouted back and forth at each other trying to find more strategies to keep him against the poorly made cot. 

Hyunjin rushed forward to assist and still the group had trouble wrestling him to keep still. Each glader held onto a limb in their attempt but Jaehyun seemed to have gained an amount of strength that seemed impossible.

Jaehyun was trying to tell them something but his words came out as ear-splitting screams, “Sung! Sung! It’s Sung!” At hearing this, the group was confused but slowly began thinking for their greenie, Jisung.

It was this moment of realization that had them distracted when Felix entered the room. The moment went by like slow motion. Felix ran into the room like he was on a mission. If they hadn’t been distracted maybe they could’ve asked Felix what he was doing, maybe they could’ve asked what the blue tube in his hand was, and maybe they could’ve stopped him.

“Felix, wait!” Changbin shouted as he followed right behind, “Stop! We don’t know what that does!” 

No one could stop him. The four just sat and watched as Felix winded his arm back, something residing in his fist. He brought his arm down onto Jaehyun’s chest and stabbed whatever it was as he did. Once he does this, time seems to speed up again. The shouting is now directed at Felix because as far as they knew he just impaled Jaehyun with a knife.

“What are you doing?” Jae yelled.

BM took the liberty of shoving Felix away from Jaehyun, rather hard. Felix didn’t brace himself in time and was sent crashing into the shorter, Changbin, behind him. The two went to the ground quickly with Changbin cushioning Felix’s landing.

People are too focused on Felix at first to notice that Jaehyun has calmed down. He’s no longer shouting or thrashing against them and his breathing calms. This causes more shouting and questions to fly towards the boy on the ground.

“What the hell did you just do to him?” Jae shouts.

Jae doesn’t bother to listen as he begins helping Hyunjin check if he’s going to live. Jaehyun seemed stable and calm. They were surprised when they turned back to the duo climbing their way up from the ground.

“Felix you better start talking right now,” Hyunjin demanded.

Changbin stood in front of him but no one actually took notice. Felix felt guilty for doing what he did but his mind said he had to save Jaehyun.

“Changbin and I were near the box and you know how it hasn’t gone down yet so we were just looking in it and talking but then Changbin noticed this thing inside,” Felix held up the injection device that looked like nothing they had there in the glade, “I honestly had no idea what it was going to do though.”

Felix’s breathing was heavy while he hoped the adrenaline would wear off because it was only making him more anxious about having remembered the serum. When Changbin pointed it out after glancing in the box, memories flashes so quick that they could have been pictures.

“You have no idea what it was going to do, yet the first thing you do is come in here and stab someone who is barely breathing?” Jae shouted moving closer to Felix.

Changbin stepped in front of him as a barrier between the two just to make sure that Jae didn’t get closer than he needed to. He was sure that if he hadn’t then Jae might’ve actually hit Felix. He understood his feelings about what the younger had done but he wouldn’t let Jae lay a hand on him. Felix doesn’t answer and the room is silent besides Jaehyun’s ragged breathing.

The tension is broken once Jackson bursts in, taken aback by the negative atmosphere that he wasn’t expecting to walk in on. All heads turn to him as they wait for whatever he was going to express originally.

“Johnny, Chan, and Jisung are back. Chan’s calling another gathering.”

***

Hyunjin stays behind to keep an eye on Jaehyun while Jeongin is told to stay in case he needs a message to be delivered in the meantime. The gathering was only to discuss the day's events in further detail to be sure the right actions were taken. 

“Did you find anything in the maze?” Mark of the sloppers asks.

“No, we weren’t able to find anything that could tell us why Jaehyun was stung this morning,” Chan responded.

“Jae, tell Chan what happened with Jaehyun and-” BM was cut off by Johnny which prevented him from getting to tell the rest of the story.

“What happened with Jaehyun?”

“He was acting like any average stung when he started screaming like a banshee, thrashing around, it took Hyunjin and the baggers just to hold him down…” Jae trailed off as if he was considering the next part of his story, “We couldn’t make much of his screams besides ‘sung’. He kept shouting it like it was the only word he knew.”

Seungmin’s heart dropped to his feet. There was no way that he was making it out of here alive. Surely his cover had been blown. How ironic would it be if he got three scares in one day? His worries are suppressed when Changbin stands and points at Jisung.

“I have been trying to tell you all since that rodent arrived. He is hiding something. This is obviously a sign!” 

Minho sighed and rubbed his face in frustration, “You can’t possibly prove that.”

Changbin looked at Minho like he was the dumbest person he had ever laid eyes on, “Do I have to spell it out for you, loverboy? ‘Sung’. Ji-sung!” He shouts.

The gladers disregarded the nickname as they were focused on other things. Soon the rest of them were beginning to understand where Changbin was going with his point. Minho couldn’t say anything back as he really didn't know how to defend Jisung at that point. All eyes were on the boy who had arrived the day before with a growing hatred due to Changbin’s assumptions.

“I promise you all. If I knew something I would have said something!” Jisung tried to reason, “If you haven’t noticed,” He gestured around him, “I am in the same position you are.”

Seungmin thinks back to the cause of panic. He sees what the creators were doing. WICKED was trying to show Seungmin that they could ruin him if they wanted to. He understood that this was his only warning.

Chaos began to erupt inside the room. Shouts of anger at Jisung. Questions at Chan. Things were getting out of hand quickly and it wouldn’t be too long before gladers started taking action on their emotions.

“Alright! That’s enough!” Chan shouted. He hated having to be so authoritative because he did not want to make it seem like he was controlling the glade rather than leading it, but this was no time to be rash about their decisions.

“Do you see yourselves right now?” Minho asked as Chan took a moment to think of his next words, “What is rule two?” The room was silent, “Changbin, what is rule two?” Changbin looked down. The group of boys looked like children getting scolded, “Never hurt another glader. We need to trust each other.”

The silence in the room was broken quickly when Johnny spoke up, “Minho, your speech was really great but when we went out there Jisung talked about the sections. I never said anything about them and Jaehyun definitely didn’t.”

All eyes were once again on the newbie. Jisung was well aware that this topic would come up again but he was hoping to be prepared for it. It had been a few hours since the initial conversation and he hasn’t had any time to focus on it besides kicking himself for asking in the first place. He could feel his heartbeat pick up as adrenaline coursed through him. He was becoming overwhelmed and he needed an escape. Jisung was getting ready to bolt out of the building before anyone could stop him. 

“I told him about them.”

All heads shot to Jisung’s savior. 

It was Minho… again.

Changbin scoffed and was about to go off again about how Minho had to be lying because there is no way that everything is a coincidence. He stops at feeling a small tug on the hem of his shirt. He glances down to see Felix trying to quietly tell him to sit down. Changbin, as stubborn as he is, sits. This causes the gladers in the immediate area to take notice. Jae then stands to preach the rest of the events which included the mystery liquid that Felix had injected Jaehyun with.

“BM never got to finish! Felix and Changbin came in-” Poor Felix who had been horrified at watching Jae begin to shout was saved by Jeongin almost launching the doors off their hinges at how hard he burst into the room.

All eyes were on him as he stood, out of breath, searching for Chan's eyes. He didn’t even meet them before he huffed out even more bad news.

“Jaehyun attacked Hyunjin and ran into the maze.”

Seungmin was the first one out the door, Jae after him, and after that, it was a free for all. Chan stood with no words while watching the group exit the building. He blinks a few times once the last glader has left. He feels so exhausted with how things have been getting worse by the hour.

“One. Normal. Day,” Is all he mutters before finally moving to exit the building and see what havoc Jaehyun had caused before escaping into the maze.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> is jisung the cause for everything?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha sorry for being away for so long.   
> i lost my motivation to post but here I am again  
> ill try to be more consistent from now on
> 
> -logan<3

Everyone is running the still open maze doors, no one knows why as there was no getting Jaehyun back if he had actually left the glade as Jeongin said. Jae, Seungmin, and Jeongin went to check on Hyunjin before doing anything else which was not a surprise to anyone. 

No one notices that Seungmin stops Jeongin to make him follow him to the forest, letting Jae go by himself. If someone had noticed maybe the events that occurred after could have been stopped. But, no one noticed. 

Jisung looks around at the reactions of the other gladers and meets eyes with Johnny who doesn’t look happy with the younger. If looks could kill well, you know the saying. Jisung would very much be dead. He didn’t understand why Johnny was upset with him until he remembered that he was now seeing things through Changbin’s eyes. 

All of the gladers stayed gathered around the doors, hoping that Jaehyun would turn the corner and run back but there was nothing for a very long time. They knew he wasn’t coming back to them. No one who went into the maze this late in the day ever came back. They wanted to have hope but they had grown to know in the years they had been there that hope was distracting. 

The gust of wind that signaled the closing of the doors blew past the group of boys and they began to disperse from the crowd around the opening. You could feel the mood lower as the seconds went by. Jaehyun was a lost cause now. Jisung could feel Johnny’s eyes still on him but he wouldn’t dare meet them again. He felt guilty for some reason. As if everyone accusing him of being the cause was making him consider it himself. 

“What are you even talking about?”

Everyone turns their heads to look for the source of the shouting. Changbin is throwing his hands here and there but no one can understand his words anymore. Jisung finds the person he is arguing with and it’s Felix. It looked worse than it sounded. The two were clearly upset but something about the way Felix was standing caught Jisung’s eye. His back was to the doors starting to close and he was slowly stepping backward. No one else noticed because they were trying to hear what the two were talking about. 

Before Jisung can say anything Felix turns into a blur as he promptly turns around and sprints into the maze. Everyone outstretches limbs to try and stop him but they’re just moments too late. His body disappears through the doors. 

‘You can still make it.’ Jisung breathes in sharply at the sound of the voice in his head. ‘There’s still enough space.’ His eyes seem to focus on nothing but the maze doors. The more he stares the more they slow. His breathing picked up and he felt adrenaline shoot through his body. In the back of his mind, he knew he was going to do this whether he wanted to or not. 

Before Jisung can consciously make a decision his legs are carrying him in the directions through the opening that gets smaller with every passing second. Shouts of protest follow him and he’s sure those same limbs that reached for Felix reached for him too. But like before, they were moments too late. 

Felix remembered telling Changbin that someone needed to go after Jaehyun but he ignored it. When Felix tried again Changbin got upset and uttered words that he would never forget. 

“He belongs to the maze now.”

He decided that if no one would help Jaehyun then he would do it himself. He was tired of sitting around like sheep waiting to be herded away for some experiment. The last word of his thoughts ran through his mind. As if it was familiar. Experiment.

When the shouts for him ceased and turned into shouts for Jisung he stopped in his tracks and turned around so fast it almost gave him whiplash. His eyes focus just in time to see Jisung crash to the ground at the edge of the maze doors. Seconds after this the maze doors close. Felix is staring with wide eyes as the full weight of what just happened threw itself on him. His legs give up underneath him and he puts his hands out to catch himself. This movement moves Jisungs eyes, which had been glued to the doors because he was almost turned into a pancake, to look in Felix’s direction. 

After some long eye contact and deafening silence, Felix speaks, “What did we just do?” His voice sounds like he hadn’t used it in years.

Jisung stood and brushed off his pants while thinking of something to say, anything. He walks to where Felix sits on the ground, “They think of hope of a distraction. I don’t blame them because of the way they’ve been living for three years. But we are different. It’s obvious. If anyone is going to bring Jaehyun back. It’s us,” He reached an open hand down to Felix.

Felix’s mouth hung for a moment before reaching his hand out to meet Jisung’s. The two grunt as Felix makes his way to his feet, “You know, you’re pretty inspiring,” Jisung’s response was a smug look of ‘oh, I know’ before Felix continues, “You’re right though. We’re the only ones who can do this. Not just because we’re different.”

Jisung’s head tilts to the side in confusion and he’s about to ask what Felix means. What could be another reason that the two newest of the glade could be the only ones to bring back someone from the maze. Something no one has accomplished in their time here before them. Not only one person would make it back but three.

“We’re the only ones here!” Felix shouted as he threw his arms up. 

“Right. There is that,” Jisung mumbles.

Of course, that’s what he meant. It can only be them because they were the only ones who ran through the doors as they were closing. Jisung and Felix were idiots and they weren’t the only ones to think so either.

***

“They are complete idiots!” Minho yelled to no one. 

Minho was the first to notice Jisung deep in thought and staring at nothing. When he looked closer he realized Jisung was staring at the maze doors which Felix had just sprinted through. Before he could tell Jisung not to do what he was thinking, he took off. 

Of course, Minho tried to follow him too. He couldn’t let Jisung go in there with no knowledge of the maze with Felix who knew just as little. Chan caught him before he could take two steps. He thrashed for a moment knowing that Chan wouldn’t let up. He gave up when he knew the space was too small for him. He let himself drop to the ground when Chan let go. His chest hurt knowing that Jisung wasn’t coming back. 

This time the gladers succeed in walking away, now more upset than before. Three more gladers were gone. Still, Minho sat unmoving from his place. He felt Chan walking away with the bulk of the crowd. He thought he was alone but when he finally looked up he saw Changbin staring at the closed maze doors. 

Minho shuffled uncomfortably as he was losing feeling in his legs and Changbin stiffened before turning around and making eye contact with the older. He faced him and walked over letting his feet stop in front of the Minho.

“Still think Jisung’s not here to ruin everything?” That was all he said before leaving Minho in his spot.

***

Hyunjin and Jae find everyone walking to go get dinner.

“Hyunjin! Are you alright?” Johnny asks upon seeing them.

“I’m fine. Jeongin was freaking out. Jaehyun pushed me but that’s all,” Hyunjin confirmed.

“Has anyone seen Jeongin?” Chan asked. He thought that he and Seungmin had gone with Jae but neither of them was there. 

As if on cue, Jeongin came running up to the group faster than anyone has seen him run. Seungmin was right on his tail trying to grab onto Jeongin’s arm subtly. 

“Jeongin? Are you okay?”

“Is it true? Did they run into the maze?” He questioned, out of breath.

Seungmin physically cringed behind him which caught Hyunjin’s attention. This was all the confirmation that he needed.

No one answered Jeongin as they were shocked at the sudden situation. He took this reaction as confirmation that what he asked was true. Jeongin stormed off upset that they let Jisung and Felix into the maze. 

He lost his appetite after knowing that his friends were disappearing one by one.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> changbin and jeongin get to talk about what's actually going on

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bOOM CHAPTER POSTED  
> i feel so proud:)
> 
> -logan<3

Dinner goes by in complete silence beside the sounds of their eating. No one dares say anything in the solemn time. Jeongin isn’t at dinner but no one went looking for him. He was the youngest of the glade and they knew it was probably weighing on him a lot. 

It’s not long before they’re all heading to their respective sleeping areas. Not much is said, not much happens, the glade is just quiet. Many of the boys stay up until the late hours and think about the events of the past few days. Soon, it’s nothing but the slow breathing of sleeping figures. 

Changbin struggles to keep his eyes open. They felt like rocks were set on either lid making sure that he would fall asleep. He wouldn’t. He refused to let himself fall unconscious. He wanted to be awake when those doors opened in the morning. Though the glade had grown to discard hope, Changbin felt a small spark inside of him hoping that the three would walk through the open doors the next morning.

He sat up, frustrated, he didn’t even know why he wanted them back. If any other glader would’ve run through those doors, Changbin would’ve looked the other way because it was no longer something he needed to worry about. There was nothing he could do to bring his old friends. He can’t sit and wait in the spot he’s in. He decides that he’ll just wait by the doors until morning. 

After lighting a torch as quietly as he could, Changbin makes his way to the closed maze doors. In the dark, they seem to tower taller than he would’ve imagined them to. He feels like eyes are on him from every direction as he hears small clicks and buzzes that he hopes are just in his head. 

He stops in his tracks when he notices a figure already sitting at the closed entrance. It was Jeongin. He sighs as he begins to walk closer.

Jeongin has been attempting to keep himself quiet as he let tears leave his eyes and struggling sobs leave his lips. He wasn’t crying because of Jaehyun, Jisung, and Felix he was crying because of the call that Seungmin made him listen to. 

***

It was very rare that Seungmin let Jeongin out of his sight. He wasn’t going to take any chances with Jeongin knowing what he knew. Seungmin was upset that Jaehyun had run into the maze and it was very obvious that it was the creators doing.

“You had Jaehyun run into the maze? What is going on over there?” Seungmin tried to keep himself quiet but his emotions were starting to get the best of him. 

“That is none of your concern Seungmin.”

He lets out a frustrated sigh, “Then I’m forced to ask if the plan for tomorrow is still in motion?” 

“It is. Please go over it in detail so we can be sure that you have the right idea,” the people on the other end sounded annoyed with Seungmin’s constant questions and concerns.

“Tomorrow when the doors open, they won’t close again. The day will go on as normal but as soon as it’s time for the doors to close, they won’t,” Seungmin looked up to meet Jeongin’s eyes, he regretted the action as soon as he did.

Jeongin stared at Seungmin like he had murdered someone in cold blood, and if you put it into perspective, he had. So many emotions were making their way through his body. 

Seungmin continued to keep his eyes on Jeongin as he kept talking, “The grievers will come into the glade and take the gladers few by few. We’ll start with the gladers who are no longer fit for the experiment but the longer we stay the more of us, fit or not, will be taken.”

Jeongin couldn’t move as he stared at Seungmin. He was looking for any sign that he was lying. Anything that could indicate that this was all just some messed up dream. There was none of that. Bile began to build in Jeongin’s chest and move up into his throat, quicker than he would like to admit. It left a sour taste in his mouth that he had never experienced before. Jeongin was aware that some gladers got motion sickness when coming up in the box or they would experience emotions similar to his own at that moment. Disgust with the situation they were put in. And Jeongin was more than disgusted. But he was not one of the gladers who lost their lunch ever. 

“Good. You will check-in after each invasion,” The voice stopped for a moment, a voice cut in with something inaudible, “No, I like invasion better. It doesn’t even matter!”

Jeongin straightened himself as he wiped away the vomit-spit mix. He really didn’t want to believe his ears, or his eyes, or any part of his body. That was his mistake though, he was hoping that none of it was real. That was Jeongin’s mistake. He hoped for things and hope was something you learned to disregard in the glade.

Seungmin moved to speak again but he was cut off by a commotion starting on the other side of the line. People shifted quickly and shouts were heard.

“Subject A14 and A15 have run into the maze!” The man shouts into the mic before the line is cut.

Seungmin sits in silence as Jeongin begins to panic, “What does subject A14 and A15 mean?” Jeongin realized the words after that as he put things together, “Who ran into the maze?” He shouted at Seungmin.

He looked at the younger with a solemn expression as he felt the finishing of the maze doors closing, “Jisung and Felix-” Seungmin doesn’t get to finish explaining before Jeongin takes off towards the glade. 

Jeongin’s purpose wasn’t to tell everyone what was going on like he had the first time he took off towards the glade center. He wanted to see if it was true, he had to see it for himself. He couldn’t believe anyone around anymore. Could he even trust Chan? Or Minho? What if they all knew and were just keeping it from his. Maybe Jisung did have something to do with all of this. 

***

Jeongin feels a presence and looks up to see Changbin staring at him awkwardly. He wipes his tears away in embarrassment. He knows Changbin saw him but he was going to play it off like it didn’t happen at all. 

Changbin walked closer, “I knew you’d be here,” He exhaled, “I didn’t see you at dinner either.”

“Seungmin brought me food,” Jeongin replied, monotonous. 

The older doesn't respond as he sits next to Jeongin. It wasn’t cold but it sure wasn’t warm so the heat of the small torch kept them comfortable. It’s silent for a long time with a sniff here and there from either boy. It’s neither a nice or bad silence but it’s not something they wanted to be stuck in forever.

Jeongin was the first to speak, “Why do you keep blaming Jisung?” Their heads turn to each other, “Why do you think he’s causing all of this?”

Changbin sighs before beginning to recount the events of the days prior, “He came up a day after Felix. Greenies are only supposed to come up once a month, you know that. He’s tried to take off into the maze two times and succeeded another one. He’s always asking so many questions. None of us have ever had the urge to be as curious as he is. Remember when he wouldn’t talk to anyone when he first came up? He chucked rocks at us from the top of the watchtower. Jaehyun got stung and when they went to go check out what happened Jisung knew about the sections before anyone told him about them. Jaehyun was shouting ‘Sung” when he was going through the changing. Now, Jaehyun is out there. Felix and Jisung too. It’s his fault. It has to be,” He relaxed after finishing his speech about everything Jisung has done since he arrived.

“It sounds like you just want someone to blame for everything changing,” Jeongin said, “It doesn’t seem like you actually hate Jisung. You see him as change and we all know you don’t like change,” He continued with a small laugh.

“Felix said that too. For a second I believed him but not after today’s stunt. He has to be working with these creators and he probably dragged Felix into helping,” Changbin was upset when he realized that’s the only reason why Felix would go into the maze the way he did. 

Jeongin felt guilt build in his stomach. He felt like he was going to vomit again but he kept it down. Changbin had the right idea but the wrong people. Seungmin was the one working with the creators and Jeongin was the one dragged into helping. He realized that all the blame that was being put on Jisung and Seungmin knew that.

The topic switched quickly when Jeongin couldn’t hold it in anymore. He couldn’t say anything about Seungmin so he tried to keep it as vague as possible, “What if, one day, the maze doors don’t close? What do we do then?” 

Changbin almost laughed before seeing that Jeongin was serious, “What are you talking about? The doors always close,” He tried to reassure. 

“But what if they don’t? What would we do?” 

Changbin sighed, he thought it was ridiculous to ask such a question but with all the change that’s been happening and the fact that Jeongin was still new he understood why he was asking.

“You don’t need to worry. Even if they do stay open, which they won’t, we’ll make it through. Everything will be alright and we’ll be here to protect you. You’ve got a whole glade who would risk their lives if it meant saving yours,” Changbin explained. 

Jeongin could think of one person who wouldn’t risk their life for his, in fact, he could think of one person who would put all their lives on the line to save his own. He could think of one person in the entire glade who would be completely safe when the doors didn’t close. That person was Seungmin. 

It was silent once again between the two boys. They were becoming more exhausted as the minutes went by. Their eyes threatened to close with every blink. 

“You didn’t know I was going to be out here,” Jeongin spoke, it was a statement more than it was a question.

“No,” Changbin took a deep breath in and out, “I didn’t.”

“Then why did you come out here? You hate Jisung and you aren’t even that close to Jaehyun,” Jeongin said moments before realizing why Changbin was waiting there with him.

“Felix is out there,” He said before Jeongin could continue, “He... I don’t know why I care so much that he is. Or why I care so much about him at all. I-”

The younger cuts him off, “I know,” The smugness in his voice is very obvious.

“What?” Changbin asks. 

“I know why you care so much for Felix so much,” He looked at Changbin who looked back at him, “You like him.”

Changbin sputtered out inaudible sounds trying to come up with something to say, “But I barely know him. He’s been here for three days,” He said.

“That doesn’t mean that you can’t have a crush on him. I don’t know why you like him but I know that you do,” Jeongin informed.

“But how do you know that I like him?” Changbin was becoming more flustered with every word that left his mouth. 

Jeongin laughed at the new demeanor he saw his friend in. He had only been there a month and a few days but in that time he had never seen Changbin act like that. It was very amusing to the younger.

“Okay,” He said, trying to set up a scenario that Changbin would understand, “You know how Minho acts around Jisung? Like, the way he stares for just a moment longer than he should?” 

Changbin groaned, “Yeah, it’s stupid because he defends him like there is nothing else in this world!”

Jeongin laughed, “It’s exactly what you do!” He exclaimed, “Haven’t you noticed? You never accuse Felix of anything despite coming here a day early. I know about that weird serum thing he did, but you don’t find that suspicious at all?” 

Changbin is going to say something but he doesn’t know what to say. Jeongin is right but he would never actually admit that.

“Plus, you look at Felix the exact same way that Minho looks at Jisung,” Jeongin teased.

“How do you even know what this look you’re talking about looks like?” Changbin tried to defend himself.

This caused Jeongin to laugh again, “You seriously don’t give up,” He sighed, “Seungmin looks at Hyunjin that way.”

His own words make him stop. His thoughts were filled with the fact that Seungmin was a liar. He wouldn’t go back on his words about the other two duos but he realized he couldn’t use the couple as justification.

When Jeongin turned back to Changbin he saw that the older was fast asleep. The torch was set against the doors to prevent a fire from starting. With those worries aside Jeongin saw that he might sleep as well. Though he was exhausted from the stress that was put upon him it was still a while before his eyes finally let themselves close.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the maze is a dangerous place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't really know what to put in these notes anymore?   
> I'm rewatching season 3 of stranger things though-  
> so that's something I guess
> 
> -logan<3

“Jaehyun!” Jisung shouted before a string of coughs left his throat.

“Don’t wear yourself out. I’m here to help for a reason,” Felix said. 

“I know but the quicker we find him, the quicker we only have one problem to worry about.”

“Yeah, I know. You’ve said that five times since we turned the last corner,” Felix huffed, “I don’t think we’re going to find him. It’s already almost too dark to see and there’s been no sight of him since he was at the med-jacks back in the glade.”

“All we can do is hope he hears us calling for him,” Jisung says as he inhales sharply to shout for Jaehyun once more.

Just before he makes any noise a loud shriek echoed down the corridors. Jisung chokes on his breath at the sudden noise and the two freeze. 

“What was that?” Felix whispers to Jisung but with the stillness of the rest of the maze, it sounds like he shouted.

Jisung can’t think straight for a moment. There are so many thoughts in his mind at once it’s almost like there are none at all. It’s like a slideshow was going miles and miles per hour. Then his thoughts break and there is only one thing he can think about.

“Grievers,” He breathes. 

The duo knows they can’t shout anymore as it will attract unwanted attention. Even if Jaehyun was close by they might miss him by mere feet due to this but it was the only way to keep themselves safe as well. They use their ears instead of their voices which is something Felix has a difficult time doing.

They walk along the corridors in silence for a long while just searching for any sign of Jaehyun that they could find. So far, it was just vines and stone. 

“The serum was supposed to help him, not make him do this,” Felix mumbled to himself.

“Well I guess it didn’t,” Jisung stated obviously.

“Okay, well if we get back to the glade then everyone is going to be suspicious of me and think that I did something to Jaehyun to make him hurt Hyunjin and run into the terrible place,” Felix complained, still keeping his voice down.

“Oh just like how they’ve all been suspicious of me for coming up in the box and breathing?” Jisung countered.

“Okay, to be fair, you have done some things that are a little sketchy.”

Jisung looked offended, though no one could see it in the dark corridor, “You stabbed someone!” He wasn’t shouting but he might as well be with the way it echoed off the stone walls.

Felix huffs, trying to change the topic, “Where is Jaehyun?” He mumbles to himself though the sound bounces throughout the corridor.

Before Jisung can reply to tell him that they should stop talking, yelling is heard in the surrounding area causing the two to freeze in their spots. It clicks immediately that Jaehyun is the source of the screams but they don’t know how long they have to get to him before what’s causing the screams.

You’d think in a large maze, where the walls tower hundreds of feet over you, that it would be hard to locate shouts that sound like they’re coming for every direction except for the one you're going in.

But, it was a simple few turns that brought Jisung and Felix to the sight of Jaehyun running in their direction and from something they wished that they had never laid eyes on.

Behind Jaehyun was a metal creature, or they thought it was metal. It was the size of a very large horse or cow but they didn’t know if that statement was accurate the closer it got. It was slimy and wet but the sound of metal clashing with the cement ground as it made its way towards the boys was unmistakable. 

“I think I found Jaehyun!” Jisung shouted as they hurried to turn around and run the other way. 

An ungodly screech is heard as Jaehyun shoots past them while they struggle to regain their speed to catch up. They feel the creature on their heels and they’re sure it’s only fear and spite that kept them from going any slower than they were.

As they begin to share a pace with each other, the griever still on their tail, Jisung feels something. It tingles in his head but burns in his chest. He knows where they are. As if he had each corner and turn memorized to the fullest extent. He was confused because earlier in the day it was like he was blind. Jisung felt adrenaline rush through his veins as he picked up his pace.

“Follow me! I know where to go!” He shouts as his legs carry him further. He hoped that the other two were keeping up as he ran.

It was left and right, then another left before they got to Jisung’s destination. It felt like hours as their legs and lungs were burning from the extra work they had to put in at each turn. They were smaller than the griever so it was easier to shift their weight when turning corners but it took almost all they had to keep the energy going so they could create space between them.

In front of them was a split, they could go left or right, or there was the option of turning around and facing the gruesome creature behind them but that was definitely decided to be out of the question. 

Jisung has a plan before they even arrive at the split. He knows more about this maze than he was leading on, though he didn’t know it at the time. The thought that maybe all of this is his fault comes to his mind again. If he wasn’t to blame then who is?

He quickly shakes it from his thoughts as the problem at hand needed to be solved before he could dwell on it for longer. He turns around, just for a moment, it’s nothing but a glance. He makes sure that his partners are still behind him.

“When we get to the crossroads I want you two to go right!” Jisung shouted while gesturing to the right side of the corridor.

“Where are you going?” Felix replied, confused at Jisung’s statements.

“I’m going to go left!” The spot for splitting up was getting closer, “I’ll lead this thing away and shake it- I’ll find you guys afterward!” He explained, his throat almost giving out at all the work his body was doing.

“You can’t do that! It’s too dangerous!” Jaehyun chimed in.

“We don’t have a choice! We will get tired at some point and this thing will be waiting for that to happen!” Jisung tried to catch his breath before speaking again, “I know what I’m doing, I don’t know how but I do,” The end of the corridor got closer and closer.

Once at the end of the corridor, Jaehyun and Felix ran right and kept running. Jisung turned around to face the griever. It wasn’t as close as he thought it was but it was moving faster than he expected it to. He glanced to the side to make sure his friends were far enough away before beginning to shout.

“Hey! This way!” He started waving his arms, “I’m right here you giant ball of goo!” 

He got a shriek in response and he felt satisfied in a way now that he had angered the griever. It was his cue to begin running in the direction that Jaehyun and Felix hadn’t. He moved out of the way quick enough to send the beast flying into the wall behind him, giving more time to run while also keeping the attention on him. 

It wasn’t long before the griever was right behind him. He could feel the adrenaline leaving his body. His strides were slowing down and he could feel the steps of the creature right behind him. It was thinking about these things that made him slow down and it’s also what made him forget where he was going.

So, when Jisung turned a corner and found himself in front of a dead-end, he wasn’t expecting it but he wasn’t surprised. He choked on a gasp as he turned around to come face to face with the griever. It snarled at him as it knew it had him cornered. Jisung felt an unnatural amount of fear enter his body. He couldn’t think straight or at all. He didn’t know how to get himself out of this mess but it also made him think that it might be better if he was in this position. He wasn’t distracting all of the grievers but he was distracting at least one of them so that Jaehyun and Felix could get away. 

His feet kept moving backward while the grievers kept moving forward. It was teasing him and it watched Jisung stare at it with wide eyes. Claws with different tools protrude from its body. A saw, a needle, a knife, and Jisung was sure he recognized other things but he couldn’t put names to them. 

He knew he was going to die. He knew that this was the end. Jisung’s back finally hit the wall behind him and he closed his eyes. Tears filled to the brim and ran down his cheek. He couldn’t remember anything besides the two days he had been in the glade. He couldn’t remember his friends, his family, or what it was like outside of the glade. He missed it though. He missed what life was before the glade, before the maze. He missed who he was before it all too.

He kept his eyes closed. He didn’t want to see what was going to happen. Or when it was going to happen. He saw the faces of the people he had gotten to know in the glade. Felix, Jaehyun, Johnny, Seungmin, Jeongin, Changbin. He saw Minho. He remembered the words that Minho told him. The maze was a dangerous place, he knew that. But he went in anyway. He went into the maze without a thought or care for what Minho had told him. 

He heard the griever as close as it could be, he heard the metallic sound of a claw winding back. This was it. He braced himself for whatever he was going to feel. He knew it would be painful. Jisung wasn’t ready to die but he accepted it.

A loud siren sounded off of the walls. The wailing hurt Jisung’s ears and his hands flew up to cover them as a reflex. His eyes opened to see where it was coming from. He was so distracted by the sound that he didn’t realize the griever in front of him had turned away and was already halfway out of the corridor. 

Jisung wasn’t going to wait for it to come back. He started retracing his steps back to where he split with Felix and Jaehyun. If he was honest, he didn’t have a plan for finding them. He just knew that they were safer away from the griever and he was their best bet on leading it away. So, he just decided to retrace his steps back and hope that he took the right turns to them.

Once he found the crossroads that the trio had split, he continued running. He was slower than he was before but he felt refreshed that he hadn’t died. He needed to find the other two fast. He was confused about what happened with the grievers, the siren was dying down now so he didn’t have to worry about his ears anymore. The griever left him alone so maybe they’re being called back, all of them. Jisung didn’t know why that was his first thought, but it gave him an idea of how to find Jaehyun and Felix.

“Felix! Jaehyun!” He began shouting. If he was right about the grievers then he didn’t have to worry about them for, hopefully, the rest of the night, “Jaehyun!” He ran as he shouted. If they could hear him then surely they could answer, “Felix!” He ran a couple hundred feet with each shout, trying to locate them.

“Yeah! Jisung! Is that you?” He heard in reply. 

Relief filled his chest as he ran to the source. He had been going the right way after all.

“Yeah! It’s me!” He shouted back to give some relief to the others as well.

“Can you find us?” Jisung couldn’t tell who was talking because of the echo, he thought it was Jaehyun but the more he listened the more he thought it would be Felix, but it was the same one voice each time. 

As Jisung got closer, he felt something wrong. He felt like something in the maze stood still, more than it did when he and Felix ran in hours earlier. He felt his breathing pick up and he jogged down the corridor, just one more corner and he would be there. One more corner and then they could make it back to the maze doors and show everyone that they could make it a whole night in the maze, without telling them that Jisung almost died.

Jisung turned the corner and what he saw was something he never wanted to see. Felix was on the ground and anyone with eyes could tell that he was unconscious, maybe even dead. Jaehyun sat next to him shaking him and asking if he was okay. Jisung only stood there, for the second time that night, he didn’t know what to think or do. He just stood there with wide eyes.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they've really got a lot to catch up on

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two chapters in a day??  
> wow  
> i also finished the third season of stranger things   
> (I've seen it before though)
> 
> -logan<3

“Jeongin,” Changbin whispered in an attempt to wake the younger, “Jeongin, wake up. The doors are going to open soon.”

Jeongin began to stir in his spot as Changbin lightly shoved him. His eyes struggled to open but when they did he was confused about his place in front of the doors. He was so used to waking up in a certain spot that he wasn’t expecting to be there. Another part of him hoped that it was all a dream and he would wake up in the morning with things being completely fine again. 

He stands quicker than his body can handle which causes a stumble here and there but soon he’s facing the closed doors waiting for them to open. Changbin stands next to him and asks if Jeongin wants to get an early breakfast before the doors open but it’s clear that he’s set on watching the door.

Changbin doesn’t leave either, he stays and waits with Jeongin as a crowd begins to develop. Jeongin hasn’t said a word and he’s not the only one. Everyone is silent as they wait for them to open.

Chan feels his chest turn as he arrives at the crowd. He scans everyone’s faces and he can see that they don’t think the trio is going to return. They’re standing there to say goodbye. Once those doors open and they aren’t on the other side it will be over. 

The last to arrive at the group, just before the doors open, is Minho. None of the gladers can recall seeing him so irritated with anyone who even so much as glanced at him. It was truly a sight to see but no one wanted to see it. 

A deep rumble gathered beneath their feet signaling that the doors would be opening any moment. Everyone held their breath in fear that something worse might be there when the doors opened. They would rather not see them at all than see their bodies on the other side or worse, a griever. 

Once the doors had opened as far as they could, everyone just stared. They looked at the empty corridor in front of them. They knew that this was how it was going to be but they still felt defeated. They cursed the creators for putting them in this terrible place.

Minho pretended like it didn’t get to him and Jeongin sat on the ground in front of the doors. He knew that things were going to change and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. So, while everyone else walked away from the doors thinking that things would just go back to the way they used to be, Jeongin sat and waited for it all to be over.

***

Jisung finally comes to his senses and rushes to Felix’s side. He looks him up and down to see if there is anything physical that could point to what happened to him. When he didn’t see anything at first glance he looked up at Jaehyun who seemed just as speechless.

“What happened?”

Jaehyun straightens as he begins to recall the events that occurred after Jisung had split ways with them, “We decided that when we turned the corner that we would stop for a breather and if you had come looking for us this way then we wouldn’t be that far away,” He swallowed hard before continuing, “But we ran into another griever, I was trying to distract it so Felix could get away. Then right before it was going to attack me, Felix jumped in and saved me. I thought it was going to come for me too but then this loud horn went off and scared it away or something,” Jaehyun stopped there as he met eyes with Jisung. He just gestured in front of him at Felix, “You know the rest!”

Jisung takes deep breaths as he reaches to check Felix’s pulse and couldn’t be more relieved to know that he is breathing. He looks around for no reason other than to help him think. He looks up at the sky hoping to see the first signs of dawn setting in. He didn’t know how deep in the maze they were just by looking around but that’s what made him remember that it wasn’t just him and Felix any more.

“Jaehyun,” Jisung’s eyes snapped up to the runner in front of him, “How far from the glade are we?”

Jaehyun looked around as he recalled the paths he had taken before Jisung and Felix found him and then the turns they took to get here, “Around three hours if we’re running-”

“Which we won’t be,” Jisung cut Jaehyun off which earned him a confused look, “Does it look like he can run?” He asks while gesturing to Felix still lying on the ground.

Jisung has Jaehyun help Felix up from the ground, “We’re going to carry him the whole way, aren’t we?”

Jisung didn’t say a word as they continued to move towards the doors of the glade. It would be a while before they got to the doors but they would make it out alive if the grievers were called back as he thought.

Most of the way back is silent besides the grunts and heavy breathing coming from the two older boys.

“Felix is lighter than I thought he would be,” Jaehyun said matter of factly. 

“But that doesn’t mean he is the lightest thing to carry around. He may not be dead but it’s the same as dead weight if he’s unconscious,” Jisung said.

Jaehyun only gave a light chuckle in response before there was silence between the two once again. Jisung considered asking Jaehyun questions about what he saw in the changing, about why he said Jisung’s name, or why he ran out into the maze in the first place. But Jisung thought it would segway into it instead.

“So, why did you attack Hyunjin?” Jisung started.

“I didn’t attack anyone, I just pushed him because he was in my way and I made sure he wasn’t hurt too!” Jaehyun defended himself.

“Okay, then why did you run into the maze? It’s honestly the whole reason Felix and I are even out here,” Jisung informed him.

“Someone told me to! Okay? Someone told me to run into the maze,” Jaehyun shouted, he was becoming overwhelmed by just two questions.

Jisung doesn’t know why he doesn’t press on for more information, but he didn’t. Jaehyun tells him that they’re at a good place to take a break so they set Felix down and take a breather themselves.

“Why were you saying my name? When you were going through the changing?” Jisung asked suddenly.

Jaehyun sat for a moment, he was confused at what Jisung meant, “I don’t remember much about being conscious during the changing. I did see things while I was going through it if that’s what you’re asking.”

“What did you see?” Jisung sat up straighter. He didn’t know if knowing this information would put the gladers at an advantage or disadvantage but he needed to know what Jaehyun knew.

“We used to know each other. Before all of this. We were… we are part of something a lot bigger than we think. It’s an experiment. They want to see what happens to kids our age in harsh conditions,” Jaehyun paused, for effect, “These creators, they had favorites. Kids that they wanted to succeed in these tests more than others. At first, it was just small puzzles but we’ve worked our way up to this.”

“But why? What’s it all for?” Jisung asked, “They can’t just be doing this for fun… can they?”

“That’s what I’m getting to. I don’t know all of it. I only got certain pieces and memories back, but I remember this one day, years ago. You, Felix, and Hyunjin barged into our room one night. It was just me, Johnny, and Mark there at the time, but you guys looked scared. Like, you had seen something you weren’t supposed to,” Jaehyun swallowed before continuing, “It freaked us out and when we asked what happened, you told us that you three had been sneaking around and found this room with all these kids strung up with wires. I can’t really explain it because I didn’t see it and you weren’t making that much sense but I remember believing you.”

“This is a lot deeper than we think it is, isn’t it?” Jisung asked, only receiving a nod in response. He turned to Jaehyun, “But that doesn’t explain why you were screaming my name. Unless I was murdering you in your dreams or something?” He joked. It was the first time he had been the one to keep things light-hearted for the sake of their minds.

“Right. I wasn’t screaming your name,” Jaehyun said.

“Then…” Jisung pondered for a moment, “Whose name was it?”

“Remember how I said that the creators liked to play favorites?” Jaehyun didn’t wait for a response, “Seungmin was their favorite. You guys told us Seungmin was helping the creators use those kids… and us, I guess, for whatever sick experiments that they’re conducting.”

“So…” Jisung began, “You weren’t screaming ‘Sung’ as in Ji-Sung, you were screaming ‘Seung’ as in Seungmin,” He put the pieces together out loud.

Once again he received no response from Jaehyun, which was understandable with all that he’s gone through during the last 20 hours.

“I think the worst part about all of this is that Seungmin… liked it,” Jaehyun said, standing up.

“What do you mean?” Jisung asked, “Like, the creators weren’t forcing him to help?”

“That’s exactly what I mean. I think there is a part of him that wouldn’t do it if he had the choice but from what you guys told us that day… Seungmin didn’t care who he hurt. He just wanted to show the creators that the best of us was him.”

Jisung followed Jaehyun in standing and without saying anything to each other they moved to pick up Felix again. It was silent for almost the entire trip back. The sun was rising and they knew the doors would open soon.

“We can’t trust Seungmin,” Jisung said, breaking the silence.

“I know,” Jaehyun replied.

“We can’t trust anyone else either,” Jisung explained.

Jaehyun huffed. He knew there were gladers who would kill once they got their hands on the creators but he knew that Jisung was right. They didn’t know for sure who was in on anything. Seungmin could’ve been mind-wiped like the rest of them for all they knew but they couldn’t take that chance.

“I know,” Jaehyun said.

“We never had that conversation. You tell them that you remember nothing. Who knows what they might do if they find out that we know what’s really going on,” It was an order at first but it morphed into Jisung thinking aloud.

“We still need to find a way out,” Jaehyun mentioned, “The last corner,” He mumbled as the two came upon the last turn before they were in the corridor that led to the glade.

Jisung smiled, “Well that was always a given.”

The duo, carrying their unconscious friend, turn the corner to see the backs of their fellow gladers. Both of them felt the relief wash over them as they saw the green grass and the buildings from afar. They had accomplished what they were told was impossible.

Jisung might rub this in Changbin’s face for eternity.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hyunjin finally reveals what he knows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!  
> things are definitely getting crazy in the glade-  
> also, I'm aware that changbin is annoying but do ya'll remember watching/reading the maze runner and wanting to literally punt gally?  
> yeah I was going for that.  
> anyway, I hope you are all liking it so far:)
> 
> -logan<3

Jeongin had been looking down when he heard the shouts from inside of the maze. His eyes shoot up to the scene in front of him. It’s three figures making their way down the corridor towards the glade. Jeongin couldn’t be happier about seeing his friends emerging from what he thought was impossible.

Gladers start making their way back to their spots in front of the doors with looks of shock. Some are rubbing their eyes as if it were a hallucination while others cheer for the trio in their return. With the newfound excitement as they reenter the glade, it isn’t until Changbin rushes forward that they notice something has happened to Felix.

Changbin is the first to help set him on the ground, worry was the only thing coursing through his veins. He looks the younger up down for any bad wounds or signs indicating what happened to him, but other than a few scratches, bruises, and the fact that he wasn’t awake, he looked fine.

“One of you better explain what happened out there right now!” Changbin said as he faced the other two.

Jisung was going to explain but Jaehyun stepped in instead, “When they found me I was running from a griever. We ran together for a long time but we knew that we couldn’t last forever so Jisung proposed that we split up and-”

Changbin didn’t hesitate to get into Jisung’s face immediately, “You split up? What goes on through that thick skull of yours?” He tapped aggressively on Jisung’s temple, “You split up with Jaehyun and put Felix as the bait! Now, look what you’ve done!” He says gesturing to the boy on the ground.

Jisung had enough. He was tired of being blamed for everything for none other than the fact that he existed. Even when he did good things, or tried to do good things it was never going to be enough for Changbin to prove that he isn’t the enemy.

“I’m going to punch you,” Jisung said, he gave Changbin enough time to register the words before winding his arm back and giving him a good punch in the face.

He took a step back to look at the damage he had done. Everyone watching was in shock but they also knew that it was a long time coming.

“I know you don’t like me. I don’t know what I have done but ever since I came up in that stupid box you have done nothing but terrorize me. I understand that things are different but that doesn’t give you an excuse to be an asshole. So, stop being a baby and listen to the rest of what Jaehyun has to say. The story isn’t over and if you had listened for just two seconds longer you would’ve found out that Felix wasn’t the bait,” Jisung finally felt pain tingle in his knuckles from the punch. He wasn’t actually prepared to do that but he lived on impulse these days, “I was.”

Jaehyun finished explaining that Jisung had split from the other two and when they had, they were attacked by another griever. Jaehyun was trying to take it on by himself so Felix could get away, which would, in turn, split them up completely, but Felix saved him and was knocked out pretty bad. The only reason they survived was a siren that called them off for the rest of the night.

Changbin had been silent through the entire speech. He didn’t say a word and no one could figure out why. Maybe Jisung had finally knocked some sense into him with the awful swing. Or maybe he was plotting the murder of the younger. Many gladers were voting on the latter. 

Felix is taken to the med-jacks because he needed a better place to rest than the ground in front of the maze doors. Everyone is worried about him but they were all relieved that the trio made it back. One couldn’t help but think that under normal circumstances the boys would’ve definitely died, and it was thanks to the ominous noise that called off the grievers that ultimately saved them. Jisung tried looking for Minho but he couldn’t catch his eye anywhere. He felt guilt inside of him for taking off into the maze when Minho had explained to him what it was like out there. Part of him wished he had listened more carefully.

The crowd disperses for breakfast. They try to eat slowly because they know Chan will likely be calling a meeting as soon as everyone is done. Unfortunately, Jeongin didn’t get to join the group for breakfast as Seungmin dragged him back into the forest. 

Jeongin was terrified of Seungmin during the entire walk over. The older had a look of straight anger on his face so Jeongin did his best to comply with everything that Seungmin said. He knows at this point that Seungmin was unpredictable in his emotion and actions due to the plans that kept changing because of the creators.

“You let them live?” He didn’t even try to keep quiet which made Jeongin very nervous, “I understand if you had let Felix, even Jisung live,” He put a hand on his hip, “But Jaehyun? You let Jaehyun live? He’s already gone through the changing! He knows too much.”

“I hope you realize that we don’t appreciate the manner in which you are speaking to us. It’s very unprofessional of you, Seungmin.”

“I don’t care at this point. You are doing things and not telling me which makes it harder for me to complete my tasks on this end, do you understand? I would appreciate it if you tell me what’s going to happen and it stays like that, or when there is a change of plans, you find a way to contact me? There are beetle blades all over this glade, it should not be very hard to find me!” Seungmin breathed heavily after his angry rant.

There is silence on the other end for a long time. No one hangs up or says anything but Seungmin knows that they’re still there. He always regrets doing it but he makes eye contact with Jeongin out of habit to make sure he is still standing there. The younger looks like Seungmin would hit him if he made the wrong move and he was starting to contemplate it himself. He didn’t have a reason to hurt the younger. Not yet anyway.

“The doors will not close. Same as we planned. But, subject A14, A15, and A23 cannot be lost during the invasion tonight which is why the grievers were called away from them during their time in the maze. Just like you, they are very valuable to us and the bigger picture. You should understand that by now, Seungmin. We are very disappointed with your manners towards us lately and we hope that you will be better in the future. Things will continue as planned. Those who are no longer fit to continue the experiment will be taken first. But, you have two nights before we let the grievers loose and will no longer have control over them. You must escape before then.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t lose any more of us? How will killing us off do you any good?” Seungmin asked.

“We are looking for the best of you only. If you all die then you were never fit in the first place,” Seungmin doesn’t respond, “Check in tonight after the invasion. You have told us that you are fit to be on our side of the experiment. Prove it.”

With that, contact is cut off and it is silent in the forest again. While listening, Jeongin had tears streaming down his cheeks. He wasn’t aware of them until he finally licked his lips and tasted them. He wiped his face dry as he waited for Seungmin to drag them out of the deadheads. He resented himself for how he let Seungmin treat him. Even if there was no other way, Jeongin may not be directly involved like Seungmin was but every hour that went by that he didn’t tell anyone was another hour that he was also working with the creators.

***

Felix’s eyes open and he wants to groan loudly in pain at how sore his body was. He looks around and notices that he is definitely back in the glade which lets him breathe freely. Felix knew that at least one of Jaehyun or Jisung had to have made it back with him unless runners went out searching as soon as the doors closed. But, considering the fact that they would have been in there all day looking and taken all day to drag Felix back. He assumed that Jaehyun took him back, Jisung found him and took him back, or they both did. He was really hoping for the last option. 

He turns his head to one side and notices a figure sitting on a nearby cot. Felix squints to make out who it could be, he thought it might be someone else who was injured or a med-jack but to his complete shock, it’s Changbin. Felix doesn’t know what about his newfound situation makes him shoot up in a sitting position but he knows that he is definitely awake.

He stares at the other boy who is seemingly asleep. He almost laughed at how peaceful the older looked when not trying to murder Jisung in cold blood except for the fresh bruise on his face. Why was Changbin in his room? Felix asked himself this over and over again before deciding that he didn’t want to wake up Changbin and he also didn’t want to wait in there. He attenuated to quietly grab his boots and make it out of the room but he didn’t know what he was thinking by trying to.

Changbin awakes with a start before noticing Felix already making his way across the room. He stands up immediately, “Not. A. Chance. Go lay back down. You need to rest after what happened out there.”

Felix surrenders now that Changbin is awake and moves back to the cot. He is unsure of the reason that the older is in there with him. Did he care? Was he on Felix watch? Was he sent by Chan to give a lecture?

“You are never doing that again,” Changbin started.

“Lecture it is,” Felix mumbles to himself.

“You could’ve died just being out there last night, but come to find out that you also threw yourself into more danger?”

“I’m fine now aren’t I?” Felix said trying to play it off like it was nothing. Sure, he shouldn’t have run into the maze but he was alive and probably wasn’t going to die due to his injuries. He saw no problem with it.

“What if Jisung or Jaehyun hadn’t been there to protect you? What would you have done?” Changbin stood from his cot.

“I was the one who protected Jaehyun!” Felix defended before stopping, “Are they alright? They made it back right?”

Changbin thought back to the events of this morning, “Yeah, they’re fine.”

“Can I talk to them? Find out what happened after I was knocked out?” He asked.

Changbin didn’t answer which prompted Felix’s next question which seemingly never ended.

“Where did you get that bruise? I thought gladers weren’t supposed to hurt each other.”

Changbin reached to touch the sore spot on his cheek, “Funny story actually. Jisung finally let me have a piece of his mind.”

Felix laughed, “Jisung did that to you? Ha!”

“Why are you laughing? He punched me in the face!” Changbin asked, wishing he hadn’t told Felix anything.

“You do realize that you’ve had this coming for a while now,” He laughed again, “Plus, you were the one who said it was a funny story.”

“Alright,” Changbin said standing up, “I’ve got a gathering to go to. Chan said I could wait here until you woke up and then he’d call one.”

“Can I come? This has to do about last night, doesn’t it?” Felix asked, receiving no response, “You know it’s really easy to read you. When I’m right, you don’t answer. When I’m wrong you tell me the truth anyway.”

Changbin huffed in annoyance, “Yes, it’s about last night. We’re deciding what to do about Jisung… and you. But you can’t be there because you need to rest.”

“Okay,” Felix said, earning a concerned look from Changbin. He was surprised that he agreed so quickly.

Changbin was going to ask why Felix was being so agreeable but Minho entered the room to check if Felix was awake so they could start the gathering. The two left the room without another word leaving the younger to begin putting on his boots. He wasn’t going to miss a meeting where he was one of the main topics.

***

“Now that we’re all here, let’s talk about what happened last night,” Chan started.

Jisung was sitting in a chair in front of the other gladers while he waited for his punishment. He was shocked at first when he heard that he was going to be reprimanded for going into the maze but he understood that he broke one of the rules. Two, actually. But, he hoped that it wouldn’t come up when they were speaking on the topic.

The entire time, Jisung was trying to catch Minho’s eye. He hadn’t seen the older all morning and even now, he wouldn’t look at him. Jisung knew that it meant a lot to Minho that Jisung did not go into the maze but the more he thought about it the more he knew that if he hadn’t gone out there then Felix and Jaehyun might be dead. He would rather Minho be upset with him than his friends be still out there.

“What happened, is that Jisung broke the rules,” Changbin started.

“No. We’re not doing this anymore. Sit down,” Minho moved forward.

“What are you talking about?” Changbin got defensive.

“He’s right. You have always blamed Jisung and I hate to admit it but he is not the only one who is suspicious anymore,” Chan started.

“Who else could be more suspicious than he is?” 

“Me,” Gladers turned their heads to the room doors to see Felix.

Hyunjin stood, “Felix, you should be resting.”

“I know, but I should also be able to know what’s going to happen to me for breaking the rules.”

“Nothing is going to happen to you. You didn’t do anything wrong!” Changbin said, turning to Chan for backup.

“No, he’s right. He went into the maze just like Jisung. And let’s not forget that he injected Jaehyun with that weird blue liquid!” Jae added.

“No, but Jisung has been making him do all of those things,” He tried to defend Felix as much as he could but he was sounding more insane with each sentence.

Jisung laughed at the crazy assumption. He barely knew what he was doing while in the glade, let alone making Felix do crazy things with him. If you really think about it, Jisung was the one who followed Felix into the maze. The worst Jisung had done while in the glade was throw rocks at them because he was scared. Felix injected someone with something before he even knew what it was going to do.

“Alright, we already know that Felix is going to get the same punishment as Jisung so it really doesn’t matter what either of them has done,” Chan began.

“Why should Felix get the same punishment when Jisung broke two rules?” Changbin argued.

“Changbin if you don’t sit down and shut up, I will banish you myself!” Chan shouted.

The whole room was silent. Chan immediately felt guilty for even thinking those words but he was tired of the tension that the glade was filled with because Changbin couldn’t keep his emotions at bay.

Chan sighed in frustration, “They’ll spend the rest of today and all of tomorrow in the pit with no food.” He turned to the gladers in front of him who were still shocked at the sudden outburst, “Does anyone else have anything to say?” He asked and when he received no response he walked out of the room.

The gladers didn’t know what to do for a moment. Chan had never even looked at them the wrong way let alone threatened them. Of course, Changbin had it coming for a long time, never would they have thought Chan would be the one to say it.

***

It’s been hours since Jisung and Felix have been locked in the slammer and everyone has moved to do their respective jobs. It’s quiet. They can go back to their calm and routine schedules.

Seungmin was cooking portions for dinner when Hyunjin caught his attention, “Hey, what are you doing over here?” He asked.

“I’ve got something I want to talk to you about,” Seungmin couldn’t read his boyfriend’s expression.

“What’s up?” Seungmin said, continuing to slice potatoes.

Hyunjin chuckled, “Well for starters, I would appreciate your full attention.”

Seungmin gave a laugh before setting his knife down and turning to Hyunjin, “My attention is yours.”

“Now we need to go somewhere more private,” He walked away.

Seungmin was startled by the suddenness of needing to leave the kitchen. He told Eric to handle his portion of work until he got back. He caught up with Hyunjin and didn’t say anything, just followed him. What he wasn’t expecting was for his boyfriend to take him into the forest to talk about something. How private was the topic?

Hyunjin stopped once comfortably away from the glade, “I’ve got something I need to talk to you about.”

“You said that already,” Seungmin mentioned.

“I’ve noticed you’ve been spending a lot of time with Jeongin. It wasn’t that bad two days ago, but since then it’s been rare that you two aren’t together.” He explained.

Seungmin blinked at Hyunjin for a moment before bursting out in a laugh, “I can’t believe I am actually having this conversation with you!”

“Look all I’m saying is that-”

“You’re jealous!” Seungmin cut him off, “Jeongin is like a little brother to me. You don’t have to worry about him.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about Seungmin,” Hyunjin's voice lowered. He didn’t want to do this but things were getting out of hand and he knew he wasn’t the only one who noticed Jeongin’s odd behavior, “You need leave Jeongin alone.”

“What?” Seungmin was taken aback but the sudden change, “You're not making any sense?"

“Then let me spell it out for you," Hyunjin looked at Seungmin with so much hatred, "I know you’ve been talking with the creators.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hyunjin and seungmin defintely have sone relationship issues to work out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gosh writing this chapter made me want to give jeongin a big hug- i felt so bad  
> besides that, I hope you are all liking it so far-  
> i also love reading your comments! they give me good motivation so thank you:)  
> I'm not listening to a song but I'll recommend one  
> "Fools by Nathan & Mercury"
> 
> -logan<3

Seungmin’s heart stopped. He knew he should’ve kept a better eye on Jeongin. He kicked himself for even letting him live, he was a liability and he completely ignored it. The creators were not going to be happy about this.

Hyunjin took Seungmin’s lack of response as confirmation. Of course, Hyunjin has known for a while that his boyfriend has been colluding with creators. He’s kept it a secret to try and give Seungmin the benefit of the doubt. But, in recent events, it’s only proven that things are only going to get worse.

“Where did you hear that?” Seungmin asked. With the way Hyunjin looked at him it was obvious that he wasn’t going to get out of this situation.

“From you,” Hyunjin explained, “I stumbled upon you in the middle of a call- you know, if you’re going to work against us in secret, you might as well be better at it- someone saw you go in and I was looking for you at the time so I went in and I heard you.”

Seungmin didn’t want to believe it. He had been so careless that now Hyunjin knew about the fact that he was a traitor to them. He was disgusted with himself. How was he supposed to prove himself to the creators when he kept messing things up.

“The same thing happened to Jeongin didn’t it?” Hyunjin pressed on, “That’s why you don’t let him out of your sight? Because he caught you,” His words dripped with anger.

Hyunjin was upset that it was true. He knew it was but hearing it from Seungmin was more upsetting than he thought it was going to be. It made him angry that he had been the one to send Jeongin into the forest, even if he had told him not to in the first place.

On the other hand, Seungmin knew that Hyunjin had to be lying. Jeongin knew and spilled his guts to the older even though he told him not to. That had to be the case. There was no way the Hyunjin could’ve heard a call without him or the creators finding out about it. 

That’s when Seungmin realized something he wished he had known earlier. The creators did know about it. He wasn’t someone they sent into the maze to help them and give them intel on the gladers. They could find that out all on their own. Seungmin was there as a pawn. They let Hyunjin find out on purpose. They let Jeongin find out on purpose. All of it was for a reason and it was only making him look like he had no idea what he was doing. But he was smart. He knew what they were trying to do to him.

He let out a sound of frustration, “No! I don’t believe you! Jeongin told you, didn’t he?” Seungmin had always been known for his cool-headedness to the rest of the glade but he saw no point in keeping it to himself now, “I told him that I’d kill him if I found out he told anyone!”

“You what?” Hyunjin was astonished, “Seungmin, do you even hear yourself?” He was disturbed by the words he just heard, “How in the world did you let yourself get dragged into all of this?”

Seungmin laughs at his words. How did he let it get this far?

“I didn’t let myself get dragged into this,” Hyunjin was confused, “You don’t have your memories so I don’t blame you for being ignorant but I chose this path,” Seungmin stated clearly, “I made these decisions on my own.”

Hyunjin was hurt, “You know, I kept up this act because I thought that if it held up long enough then you would realize that you aren’t this type of person. When I found out for the first time, I was completely disgusted with myself for letting you manipulate me like you did. Then, I was disgusted with you for becoming someone I don’t even recognize.”

“How long have you known?” When Seungmin didn’t get an immediate reply he asked again, “I said, how long have you known?”

Hyunjin huffed, “Four months. I’ve known for five months,” They had been dating for six.

“So you just faked it all? All of this?” Seungmin gestured between the two of them, “It was all some game to you? All because Hyunjin wanted to play hero again. Is that what it was?”

Hyunjin slapped Seungmin with no hesitation, “You have no right to be angry at me!”

Seungmin didn’t wait to respond, “You have been lying to me! I have every right to be upset because you faked it all while I-”

“While you what?” Hyunjin was almost speechless, “As far as I know, you’ve been doing the same thing. Lying. But, I was lying to protect the peace we have in the glade. You were lying because you were betraying all of us.”

It was silent for a long time as they stared at each other, angry. Seungmin still thought it was Jeongin because god forbid Hyunjin pulling something like that off. Hyunjin wanted to hold Seungmin and tell him that he knows he isn’t a bad person. He wanted to let the younger know that he didn’t need to be involved like this. 

Seungmin started walking away without a word which had Hyunjin following quickly, “What are you doing?” 

“I know you didn’t figure this out on your own. Jeongin had to have told you something,” Seungmin said, not a break in his step.

They hadn’t realized in their arguing that the sun had begun to set long ago. There would’ve been no problem with the lack of notice but the doors had yet to close. 

***

Jeongin is talking with Mark 2 when Seungmin begins approaching him, Hyunjin right behind. He was becoming increasingly anxious and wanted to find somewhere to hide so he could wait out what he knew was coming, but he didn’t want to be seen as suspicious. 

Before Seungmin or Hyunjin could get a word out to Jeongin, Changbin strides over to the younger seemingly furious. When he realized that the doors hadn’t closed his mind immediately went back to his conversation with Jeongin from the night before. It was too close together to be a coincidence. He asks about what to do in the impossible event of the doors failing to close and the next night it comes true. What are the odds?

“Is this what you meant about the maze doors closing?” He shouts, confusing all but Seungmin. Jeongin froze up, he didn’t know how to respond, “Those doors aren’t closing tonight,” Changbin said, a statement rather than a question.

Changbin’s words enraged Seungmin more than he was. He assumed Jeongin was going around and telling anyone who would listen about the plan. He knew he shouldn’t have let Jeongin live.

Before anyone could stop him, Seungmin grabbed the younger by the collar before winding his arm back and doing something that no one would’ve expected from the character that Seungmin played.

He punched Jeongin so hard that it knocked him to the ground. He held his face in pain, keeping his eyes to the ground because he was too afraid of what might happen if he looked at Seungmin.

“You’ve just been telling everybody, haven’t you? First Hyunjin and now Changbin?” Seungmin’s words confused those around them and his previous actions had shocked them so much that it was hard to stop him from pouncing on the younger. He straddled Jeongin, grabbing his shirt collar again. He lifted him before slamming him into the ground, knocking the wind out of him, “I told you what would happen if I found out you told them!” He shouted angrily. Some might’ve said that they could see the steam leaving his ears.

It was then that everyone took notice of the situation and began making their way over. Chan and Minho were the ones who pried Seungmin off of Jeongin, who hadn’t made an effort to move since before he was punched. Even when the baggers had Seungmin by each arm, he didn’t stop struggling to continue his attack on Jeongin.

“Let me go!” Seungmin seethed, “I’m fine now, just let me go!” In this state, he couldn’t keep up his nice guy act.

“What the hell is going on?” Minho asked, concerned for both Jeongin and Seungmin.

They heard coughing from the spot on the ground where Jeongin sat. He was still trying to catch his breath, wheezing every now and then to do so. Everyone is waiting for him to explain because they weren’t getting anything out of Seungmin. Jeongin was not only overwhelmed but he was terrified of what they were going to do to him when they found out that he had been Seungmin’s right-hand man through it all.

These thoughts are what made the tears begin to flow. He didn’t want to be banished or taken away by the grievers. He wanted his friends and the glade to go back to the way it was. 

“Jeongin, are you alright?” Chan asks as he moves to sit down next to him.

Before Jeongin can tell them what’s going on, what’s going to happen, Changbin cuts in, “As much as I want to know what’s happening. We have bigger things to worry about now,” He gestures to the still open doors.

Chan almost chokes when he realizes the time and the position of the opening. What was he supposed to do? Nothing, in all his time in the glade, could’ve prepared him for this. But, he was their leader after all and they were going to need guidance to survive.

Minho is just as shocked. He has always tried to help Chan in being a leader, hence his role as second in command. He didn’t want Chan to deal with it all by himself but he was unsure of how to help anyone.

Gladers are staring at Chan, waiting for him to give directions on what to do next. They were scared. Sure, most of them had lived in the glade for months now but that didn’t change the fact that they were all still young and had no memories of what the outside world was like. None of them have ever had a real fight as far as they were aware. Do they know how to protect themselves? Do they know how to survive besides building and running?

Darkness moves over the glade quicker than they would like, “Chan…” Minho started, “What do we do?”

***

Meanwhile.

“Changbin hates me for existing,” Jisung complains.

“He doesn’t hate you. He just hates the change and blah blah blah… Okay, he might hate you a little, but in his defense, you threw rocks at him on like your first day here,” Felix reminds.

Jisung thinks of how defensive Felix becomes when mentioning Changbin. He never takes Jisung's side when it comes to the points that Chanbin has made. When he realized why he cackled out loud.

“Oh my god!” He says between laughs.

“What? What is it?” Felix questions, curious to the sudden laughter.

“You like him!” Jisung shouts, still laughing like a crazy person.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prepare yourselves- things get worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know if i was able to add an emotional intent to the this chapter  
> hopefully it works out well though.  
> I'm sorry in advance  
> current song: can't we just leave the monster alive? -txt
> 
> -logan<3

Jisung and Felix were put in the same cell for reasons other than to make writing it easier. It’s quiet between them, it’s nothing awkward or uncomfortable, just silent.

“You remember things too, don’t you?” Jisung shifts to face the other.

Felix inhales and thinks before answering, “Yeah. They’re just snippets, I wouldn’t call them memories, but I do remember.”

Jisung nodded, he understood because it was the same way for him. Some things would just come to his mind that wasn’t there before. He remembered the conversation he had with Jaehyun when they were making their way back to the glade. Seungmin was definitely helping the creators but who else was in on it? Surely, he couldn’t be doing it alone. Jisung didn’t know when Seungmin came up in the box but he had to have been caught. He remembered the meal that he had with the group on his second day in the glade. The way Hyunjin became stiff when looking at Jeongin and Seungmin had put him off but he decided to ignore it.

“Have you noticed anything off about Jeongin lately?” Jisung asked, “The first day I came up he seemed nervous but since then he seems different. Like, he’s scared or something.” 

Felix gave him a blank stare, “I’ve been here a day longer than you have,” He states obviously, “But, I do know what you’re talking about. I tried to mention it to Changbin once but he thought it was nothing.”

“Of course Changbin didn’t listen,” Jisung said, “He doesn’t want anything around here to change. If you guys did find a way out then I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to stay.”

“He’s not like that,” Felix defends, “He just really cares about what they have. It’s been a really long time since any of them have seen home. This is their home.”

Jisung rolls his eyes, “Yeah, well Changbin hates me for existing,” He complains.

“He doesn’t hate you. He just hates the change and blah blah blah… Okay, he might hate you a little, but in his defense, you threw rocks at him on, like, your first day here,” Felix reminds him.

Jisung thinks of how defensive Felix becomes whenever he mentions Changbin. He never takes Jisung's side when it comes to the points that Chanbin has made. He just finds ways to justify his thinking even when he is wrong. When he realized why Felix always acted that way he cackled out loud.

“Oh my god!” He says between laughs.

“What? What is it?” Felix questions, curious to the sudden laughter.

“You like him!” Jisung shouts, still laughing like a crazy person.

Felix immediately becomes embarrassed at the insinuation. He was sure that his ears became bright red and he began waving his hands around in a frantic manner.

“What are you talking about?” Felix chokes out.

“Oh come on! You can’t deny it!” Jisung begins attempting to catch his breath, “It’s so obvious now, I don’t know how I didn’t see it before!”

“You couldn’t have seen it before!” Felix shouts, “There’s nothing to see!” His voice raised higher as he tried to defend himself. He noticed and coughed before speaking normally, “I don’t like him.”

Jisung continued to laugh, occasionally slapping his own knee in trying to contain himself, “You don’t know it yet… but you do.”

Once Jisung’s laughter dies down, it’s quiet again. This time, it’s a nice silence and they don’t mind sitting in it for a long time before Jisung speaks up again.

“We were definitely best friends before this,” Jisung breaks the silence. It’s not a question because from what Jaehyun told him about what he remembered, it was really obvious that the two must have been close.

“Oh definitely,” Felix says without missing a beat.

They joke around some more, mainly about what they imagine the outside world is like based on what little they remember about it. Felix thinks that they’ve been taken from their families secretly and put into this place for who knows what. Jisung thinks that they’re the only ones left in the world and maybe, just maybe, the creators are trying to save humanity with them.

“They sure have a funny way of showing that we’re the world’s last hope,” Felix rolled his eyes.

Jisung laughed, “It’s just me and you,” He said, “We’re gonna save the world.”

He wasn’t serious but it got him thinking that there is a possibility that they, not just he and Felix but the rest of the glade, are humanity's last hope.

“You know, they should probably have more of these cells,” Felix said, giving a look around.

“Why’s that?” Jisung was brought out of his thoughts, “I’m sure they’ve never needed more than one cell.”

Felix shrugged, “That makes sense, but we could be plotting how to take over the glade for all they know,” He said, wiggling his fingers at Jisung.

Before the other could laugh, shouts from the glade had them on their feet. It doesn’t sound like anything good which immediately sparks panic within them as well. It’s a struggle to see out of the barred cells because of the way they are set up so both boys have to stand as far as their toes will let them and even then, they have trouble seeing what’s causing the chaos outside.

Gladers are running around frantically, Jisung can’t tell if they are trying to complete a task or if they’re running aimlessly but he knows that he and Felix cannot stay in that cell.

“Do you see anything?” He asks Felix.

“If by ‘anything’ you mean something to tell us what’s going on,” Felix steps away from the bars with a huff, “then no.”

Jisung glances back to see an anxious look on the other's face. He turns back and tries to listen to anyone saying anything that might give them an answer. It was no use trying to shout for help with everyone else also yelling for help.

He steps back next to Felix, “We need to figure out how to get out of here,” Both of their hearts stop when they hear a loud screech bounce off of the glade walls, “Fast.”

***

They hear the distant wail of a glader and cringe. The group couldn’t believe they were in this situation. Sure, they were sure that it might happen one day, but with the consistency of the doors closing, they thought they would’ve escaped when the day actually came.

A few gladers have wooden spears while the remaining had knives, farming equipment, and anything else that might deem harmful. Chan had grouped Jeongin, Seungmin, Minho, Changbin, Hyunjin, and a few other gladers in the homestead as it was the sturdiest. He had seen other gladers make their way to the forest or the box. Some even went to hide in the crops. He was hoping that by morning the grievers would be gone and all of his gladers would still be there but just by the scream alone, he knew that wouldn’t be happening.

Since they had begun hiding and grabbing weapons, Minho and Changbin had these feelings that they couldn’t shake. It felt like they needed to do something or like something was missing. Of course, they just told themselves that they were scared because the glade was swarming with grievers.

“Shit,” Changbin mumbled, before turning to Chan, “Felix.”

The surrounding gladers were confused at Changbin’s words until Minho spoke up.

“Jisung and Felix are still in the pit,” He whispered in an attempt to not give away their hiding place.

Chan felt defeated, he let his head hang as he knew that something was always going to go wrong. He lifted his head to try and come up with a plan for them to retrieve the others, but Changbin was already making his way around the barricade they had set up.

“We’ll be back,” Minho says, “I won’t let him die, I promise,” He huffs as he begins to follow Changbin. He said the words to put his leader’s mind at ease but they did everything but that.

As Chan watched the two make their way out of homestead he sighed, “Why did I agree to be this stressed this constantly?” (someone save him pls)

He can’t stop them without causing a scene and that is the opposite of what he wants to do so he just lets them go. He hopes that they return in one piece but Changbin and Jisung will be in the same vicinity so he doesn’t know how well that will go. 

It feels like hours have passed since the duo left them but it was probably only 10 minutes at most. They sat in silence and in fear. In the past few days, it seemed like the worst was happening and it was continuing to happen. That night was no different. They knew that when the bone-chilling sound a griever came closer. 

With every step they heard, it felt like the ground shook beneath them. The gladers couldn’t have been more still. The slight snarl that followed each click and sound echoed in their ears.

Chan knew that it wouldn’t be long before it tore this place apart. It was taunting him. Telling him that it knew they were there, that it could pounce at any moment. And before Chan could think of a way to begin getting them out, it’s exactly what it did. 

They felt the building shift as the griever climbed it. They huddled and moved from corner to corner hoping to avoid being directly underneath the griever. The wooden make wouldn’t hold up for long. Then, it was silent. Slowly, each glader who had been holding their breath finally exhaled. Chan watched the ceiling intently, trying to find the indent made by the creature. He knew it wasn’t gone and he knew that it knew that they were still there.

The sound of wood breaking opposite Chan's eyes caught all of their attention as a metal arm spiraled into the room with a quickness they didn’t think was possible. They let out shouts of surprise which confirmed the griever's knowledge of them being there. 

Seungmin just watched, he acted like he was scared, but he knew that he wasn’t going to be taken. The creators were fueling the grievers with the information of who was where in the glade so it was easier for them to find who they needed to take. He was sure his friends weren’t going to be taken because they were some of the best products that the creators had made. 

The arm moves around as if picking its target. He snaps forward every few seconds to move the boys away from trying anything. A few gladers do try throwing their weapons at the arm but it isn’t much to make it go away. The griever outside screeches which makes the sound inside feel like silence compared to it. 

Chan makes his way to the front of the crowd. He was the leader and if it was going to take anyone then it was going to be him. He couldn’t cover the entire group, obviously, but he would try as hard as he could. His weapon ready to be used if it came any closer.

The claw winded back before lurching into the group of boys, from their perspective, it seemed like it had latched onto the first person it could. But, it was supposed to be this way. 

The group reached forward to grab onto their fellow glader who was screaming for his life. The claw had him by his ankle while the rest of them struggled to hold onto his torso. 

It was at this point that Seungmin began to rethink every decision he had ever made in favor of the creators. He considered if working with them was really worth it. He felt his heart drop to his feet. He wouldn’t believe the sight that he saw in front of him.

He watched Hyunjin holding on because his life depended on it. Jeongin had been closest to him so he was the first to hold on. He begged for the older to keep his grip and other gladers called for the same. The group was shouting at each other as their hands began slipping. Hyunjin knew that if he stayed there then the rest of his friends could be in danger.

He found Seungmin’s eyes and if he were in any other situation he would’ve laughed at how terrified he looked. Seungmin didn’t know that this was going to happen. He may have lied about a lot of things, almost everything, but he didn’t lie about his feelings towards Hyunjin.

“Hyunjin!” Seungmin finally found the nerve to cough out, struggling because his throat was closed tight at the shock.

The older returned gave a look that Seungmin couldn’t read, was it sadness? Disappointment? He couldn’t care because he knew that it would be gone soon so he just looked at him for as long as he had left.

Hyunjin looked at Jeongin who had tears running down his face freely, still yelling and holding on. The arm pulled at Hyunjin harder and he let out an involuntary scream in pain. He didn’t want to let go. He didn’t want to leave his home behind.

He made eye contact with Jeongin and the younger’s grip became tighter as if he knew what Hyunjin was going to do, “He’s not as bad as you think.”

At first, Jeongin couldn’t decipher the words. He didn’t want to. He wanted Hyunjin to tell him when this was over. When he was safely back on the ground. But before he could even ask Hyunjin to repeat himself, he no longer felt the older in his arms. 

All it took was the blink of an eye and then they could only hear Hyunjin’s receding screams. The group shouted for him but it was no use. There was no getting him back. The silence that sat in the room was deafening. The gladers didn’t know what to do with themselves. They felt empty after knowing one glader was gone but what would happen when they found out which other gladers had been taken from them.

Seungmin, his hand over his mouth, couldn’t believe what he just witnessed. He had done this to them, the gladers, to Hyunjin. He wouldn’t forgive himself and he also couldn’t prepare himself to talk with the creators, but the worst of it, how was he going to convince Jeongin that it’s all for the greater good?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also- i would like to add that I know it might seem odd for feelings to be there after a few days but they knew each other before the glade so those connections are still there, they just can't remember.  
> i hope that makes sense-  
> no one has asked, I just wanted to clarify
> 
> -logan<3


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> finally some explanation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not sure what to say here  
> but- a song I really like right now is:  
> Maze in the Mirror by TXT (this has actually been my favorite song on the album since it came out but I started listening to it more again)
> 
> -logan<3

Chapter 16

(So, when I wrote this- I forgot that the slammer/pit is literally right behind the homestead, but for my sake and the sake of the story- just pretend it isn’t. I’m sorry this is so embarrassing.)

“Changbin,” Minho hisses, “Changbin, slow down,” He’s trying to make as little noise as he can but it’s not working when he has to tell Changbin to slow down so they don’t get caught by a griever.

After a few more times of calling out to Changbin, he finally stops and turns to Minho, “You want to leave them there to die?”

Minho is taken aback by him, “What? No, but we don’t want to die before he can help them,” He explained.

Changbin realized that Minho was right and took a moment to breathe, “I know.”

“Look, I’m worried about them just as much as you are but-”

“I’m not worried about Jisung,” Changbin corrected, which earned him an eye roll from Minho, “But you are.”

The older eyes widened, “What?” 

If they weren’t trying to lay low then Changbin would’ve laughed. Is that how he looked when Jeongin accused him of the same thing? He understood the younger’s reaction now, “It’s so obvious. I know you’ve been ignoring him since he went into the maze, and I know that I hate him, but you definitely like him.”

“I don’t. He told me he wouldn’t go into the maze and he did. He risked his life for what? Because he’s curious? No, it’s not okay,” He said becoming more upset the more he talked about it.

“Right, well, first of all, I still think he’s working with the creators because of everything he’s done,” Changbin wanted to continue on the topic but he didn’t, “Second, if you didn’t like him then why are you sneaking your way to the slammer with me?”

Minho didn’t say anything back as their destination came into view. The duo crouches down and plans to make a beeline to the cell, something occurs just before they can do so.

A griever, which had been searching for the hidden away cell, finally found it. The creators found no need for the subjects inside as they had come to the conclusion that they would cause problems in the future. It was true that the two were proven to be valuable but they had created a lot of mess since they showed up. The creators hadn’t planned to send either of the two up. Jisung and Felix, or subjects A14 and A15, had found out what was really going on within the lab walls and tried to send themselves into the maze. They were a liability.

Minho and Changbin witnessed the griever go crashing into the slammer before anything could be done about it. It takes all Minho has in him not to run out there to see if the two had survived, though he knew that wasn’t possible. Sure, he was upset with Jisung for going into the maze and he couldn’t admit it to Changbin moments before but of course, he cared for Jisung. When no one else wanted to try and help him the day he arrived, Minho did. He remembered how tough it was for him to adapt to the maze and even though Jisung was a… special case, he didn’t want to ignore him like everyone else was. So, it really did take all that he had inside of him not to burst into a dead sprint towards the broken cell. He wasn’t going to risk his and Changbin’s lives like that. But, as always, Changbin thought differently.

He couldn’t tell what the shorter began to shout but Minho immediately threw his hand over his mouth and began pulling him back. Changbin thrashed as he was brought backward, trying to get out of Minho’s grip in an attempt to run over and go through whatever was left of the slammer.

“Stop it. We can’t go out there, not right now,” Minho said, his voice was shaking as he could only stare forward at the mess the griever had made.

It was at this moment that a loud wailing noise made its way throughout the glade. They jumped at the startling noise. Changbin still struggled against him as Minho watched the grievers begin to make their way out of the glade. He didn’t know what time it was but it felt like years had gone by.

Minho shook Changbin to get his attention away from the rubble of the slammer, “Changbin, look.”

It took a moment for him to process what he was watching in front of him but he settled when he noticed the grievers retreating.

Minho let go of Changbin, “We’ve got to get back to the others,” He said, hoping he would understand that they had to leave the two behind.

Even though he was stubborn, especially when it came to Felix, Changbin began making his way back to the homestead. Minho followed in silence. Every stride felt like it was one step closer to defeat. They had let not one, not two, but so many of their friends and fellow gladers fall victim to the hands of the creators. 

Minho and Changbin notice the group of boys exiting the homestead when they arrive. The building looked more trashed than when they first left which prompted the two to begin a scan of who was still among them. It doesn’t take long to notice one tall figure isn’t trying to check everyone’s pulse to make sure they’re still alive, even if they were all still standing.

“Where’s-”

“Where are Jisung and Felix?” Chan speaks as he takes notice that the two boys that Minho and Changbin had set out to find, were not with them.

Minho forgets his original question and lets his head hang. Changbin does the same. The two felt guilty for not making it there in time.

“We…” Changbin starts.

“I stopped him from going,” Minho cuts him off, “We were making great time but I stopped us and told Changbin that he needed to be cautious. But, by the time we got there…”

“It’s gone. A griever trampled right over it,” Changbin finished with a shaky breath.

The gladers had just found that two more of them were gone. Minho and Changbin didn’t even know about Hyunjin yet. There was never going to be a right time to tell them so Chan thought it was better to get it over with.

“Is that Jisung?” Jaehyun asks aloud.

Of course, no one believed it for a moment because the group had just received news that the duo was no longer with them. Nonetheless, everyone’s head whips to the direction that Jaehyun is pointing in.

Now, would you look at that? Maybe, the glade wasn’t cursed to all have horrible fates. 

Jisung is running over, Felix not far behind, as he shouts to let them know of his presence. It was like a bunch of weight had been lifted off of their shoulders. At least they weren’t all gone.

Minho and Changbin stare in awe as the duo approaches the group. Confused with the shocked expressions. They would’ve brushed the looks off but they didn’t look related to chaos that the grievers had caused.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Felix asked right before he was almost tackled.

Changbin hugged Felix with the tightness of a bear, though neither of them knew how tight that actually was, “Please, never stop asking questions,” He said, relieved.

He didn't know if there were any feelings behind the hug but he did know that he really didn’t want to let Felix leave his side after that. The younger hugged back, confused, but he enjoyed the hug. It felt familiar and warm. Felix definitely liked hugs.

Jisung tried not to pay attention to the situation next to him and to achieve this he began searching for Minho’s eyes. The older still hadn’t moved, shocked at seeing Jisung alive and in front of him. This didn’t change when Jisung finally met his eyes.

“Are you okay?” Jisung mouthed. He didn’t know why he chose that form of communication. As far as he knew, Minho was still mad at him.

Minho nodded his head in response. He didn’t know what else to say or do. He wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not.

“I’m okay too,” Jisung pointed to himself, adding a thumbs up and an affirming smile.

He doesn’t know what set him off about this but Minho finally broke away from his frozen state. At this time, Felix had finally noticed the missing glader.

“Where’s Hyunjin?” He broke away from Changbin and moved closer to the group.

They all seemed to avoid eye contact with him. This began making the four who had no idea about what happened to their friend feel uneasy.

“He’s gone,” Chan says. He only says that because he’s afraid that if he says anymore then he’ll break in front of his gladers. He can’t show them that. Not when they need a leader.

Jeongin immediately chokes out a sob and his legs couldn’t support him anymore. Felix moves to comfort the younger quickly with other gladers following in suit. 

“What do you mean? What happened?” Minho asks. He’s staring at Jeongin and doesn’t expect an answer out of him so he turns to Chan who won’t look him in the eyes.

Another glader, Wooyoung, explains that he was taken by a griever that attacked the homestead. They tried to hold on but in the end, it was Hyunjin that lost his grip. All while he’s explaining this, Jeongin can be heard trying to blubber out sentences in his sobs but it’s all mixed together and not understandable.

“And then-” He chokes, “But I didn’t know!-” He hiccups, “...Seungmin made me.” Jeongin was on the verge of hyperventilating.

The traitor's name caused Jisung and Jaehyun to find each other’s eyes. They know whose fault this was. A rage in Jisung causes him to go numb. He can’t feel remorse or hurt. He just feels a white-hot rage towards Seungmin.

“Jeongin, no one can understand you,” Felix consoles, “Take a few deep breaths, and then you can tell us.”

Jeongin feels like his heart is going to explode. All the stress from the past few days of knowing about Seungmin and keeping it a secret from his friends had all come crashing down. Hyunjin was the last straw.

“I’m sorry!” He shouts. The silence that followed as he tried to catch his breath was louder than they would’ve liked.

Felix spoke up first, “It’s not your fault Jeongin. You couldn’t have known-”

“But he did know,” Changbin cut him off. He had remembered the conversation from the night before and the one right after the maze doors didn’t close, “He did know that this was going to happen.”

The group is in complete confusion at how many factors were being thrown into a single conversation but urges one of the two to continue.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, I should’ve said something but-” Jeongin felt a chill run up his spine.

Seungmin’s voice felt like it boomed from behind him, “Jeongin, think about what you’re doing.”

He stood up and faced Seungmin with courage he didn’t have before, “Enough! I can’t keep lying to them!” He shouted while the group stood still. No one knew how to react to the side of Jeongin they had never seen before, “You made me do this! You knew about it and you made me keep it from them!”

Jeongin turns to the rest of the gladers, now upset that Seungmin thought he could just keep using him like he was a little puppet, “Seungmin talks to the creators. Everyday,” He paused, letting his friends soak in the information.

“Why didn’t you tell us, Jeongin?” Chan asked, hurt that he made the younger feel like it wasn’t safe to say so.

“Because I wasn’t supposed to know. I found him in the woods, contacting them- Hyunjin told me not to go out there. He told me to wait but I didn’t!” His sobs were coming back, “Seungmin caught me. He held me down and told me that if I told anyone then he would kill me and whoever I told.”

Everyone felt resentment towards the younger but they also felt sympathy. It explained his behavior over the past few days. The anger inside all of them began to build for Seungmin who just watched the younger explain in horror.

Jaehyun spoke up, “When I went through the changing I saw some things that I wish I hadn’t. I wasn’t saying ‘Jisung’. I was saying ‘Seungmin’,” He turned and looked at Seungmin in distaste, “He’s been working with them since the beginning. Since before we were even put in here.”

Seungmin felt tears finally welling up in his eyes, “I’m sorry! Okay?” His voice broke, “I’m so sorry.” He tried taking a step towards his friends, they flinched away from him in disgust, “I didn’t know they were going to take Hyunjin. They told me they were only going to take those who were no longer fit-”

“Do you think that makes what you did to him... to them any better?” Changbin spoke up, “You betrayed them,” He said referring to the other gladers who had been taken, “You betrayed us,” He pointed to himself, he meant the ones he was close to in the glade, “You betrayed Hyunjin and you pulled Jeongin into it as well!”

Minho and Chan stepped in front of Changbin before he could rush over to Seungmin in his fit of rage. He was furious. Someone he trusted, someone they all trusted, gave no second thought at turning his back on them.

Seungmin sat on the ground, “I didn’t think it would turn out like this,” He put a hand over his chest.

He felt his heart burning at the thought that Hyunjin was gone and it was his fault. He swayed back and forth in an attempt to comfort himself. He had nothing left tying him to the glade. Hyunjin was the only reason he hadn’t completely turned away from them. He had no reason to be on their side anymore.

While the rest of the glade tried to mourn those that they had lost Seungmin repeated a single thought.

“WICKED is good.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jisung and changbin finally agree on something???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow! a whole chapter? i would've never guessed (even if it is short)  
> there's only three more chapters to go? i think that's right.  
> now, I haven't don't much but listen to music lately so-  
> recommended song: Eden by IZ (They are a k-band and def deserve some hype!)
> 
> -logan<3

It’s silent for a long time before Chan finally steps up to talk. He’s unsure of where to start and what to say but as a leader should, he finds the words he needs. 

“It’s not safe here anymore,” He looks around at his gladers. The look on their face told him that they didn’t want to admit it even if they agreed, “We need to find a way out.”

Chan didn’t have time to even think of what to say next before Jisung spoke up next, “You’re going to help us.”

Everyone turned their heads to follow his gaze which was locked on Seungmin, who had stood by now. He looked shocked and scared at the sudden suggestion. Seungmin looked like he might begin to protest which had Minho speaking up.

“He’s right. As much as I don’t trust you. You’re our fastest way out of this place.” He took a step forward. He could feel Jisung looking in his direction and he chose not to meet them. It was time to be focused and if Jisung was going to be a distraction to him then he had to avoid him.

Still, Seungmin shakes his head and tries to turn them down, “No. I won’t do it,” He was unsure if it was because he wanted to prove his loyalty to the creators or because he was trying to protect them. He knew what was out there. 

“You don’t have much of a choice,” Jisung said, stepping forward, “Look around, Seungmin, this place is in ruins and it’s your fault,” He was beginning to let that rage from before boil over, “You got all of us into this mess and now you’re going to get us out of it.”

Gladers were ready to jump in and pull Jisung away if things got physical. Though they wouldn’t complain if Seungmin got a beating or two, they knew that they needed to keep a certain peace between them.

Seungmin only stared at Jisung and Jisung stared back. It was like they were silently fighting. It didn’t last long when Seungmin sighed, “I can’t. It’s not as easy as you think,” He turned to Chan, “They’ll kill you guys and they’ll kill me.”

Jisung didn’t hesitate, “Just like they killed Hyunjin?” 

“Jisung,” Felix hissed. It wasn’t the right thing to say even if they were all thinking about it.

“No, he’s right. Hyunjin is dead and it’s Seungmin’s fault. He knew that all of this was going to happen and he did nothing about it!” Changbin exclaimed, “Not only that but he made poor Jeongin scared for his life if he even thought about it!”

“I’m sorry! What do you want me to do about it now? It’s out of my control!” Seungmin tried to defend himself but it really wasn’t working.

“You know what?” Changbin turned to the rest of the gladers as if was leading some riot, “I don’t think he ever loved Hyunjin-”

Seungmin charged forward, he was stopped quickly by all of the other gladers surrounding him but that didn’t stop his emotions from leaping forward instead, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” 

Changbin looked at the younger with so much hatred that it made his own stomach turn. How could he have done something like this to them?

“Hyunjin knew about it too. He told me right before everything happened. He said that he accidentally saw it in the woods just like Jeongin. He never told me why he didn’t say anything,” Seungmin’s tear-stained face turned to Chan, his last redemption, “But I promise you- no, I swear- my feelings for Hyunjin were real.”

Changbin wanted to laugh at the pity act he was watching before him, “Bullshit,” He spat.

Seungmin began to move forward at Changbin again. He was fed up with him and his assumptions. He had no proof that Seungmin didn’t love Hyunjin just as he had no proof that Jisung was working with the creators.

Finally, Chan cut in, “Alright, that’s enough!” He stood between Seungmin and Changbin. With just a look he took the hint to take a step back before turning to Felix. Chan turned his attention to Seungmin, “You’re going to lead us out even if we have to die trying and that includes you too.”

***

After coming up with a plan of defense for what they’ll meet in their journey they’re prepared and standing in front of the maze doors by early afternoon. None of them want to follow Seungmin of all people into this but they don’t really have any other choice.

“It’s your last chance. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Jisung asks, standing in front of Jaehyun, his back to the rest of the crowd.

Jaehyun nods, “I’m sure. I know what’s out there and I would much rather take my chances in here. I hope…” He sighs, “I hope you guys get out. Not just from the maze. From all of it.”

“We’ll come back and get you when we do,” Jisung smiles, “I know I don’t remember how we were before all of this but it kind of hurts leaving you behind.”

“You’re telling me? Johnny won’t even look at me.” He looks over at the taller who is very obviously holding himself back from looking at the two, “He’s like my best friend.”

“I promise that we will come and get you when we’ve made it out. Johnny included,” Jisung gave him a shoulder pat before turning and joining the rest of the group.

He didn’t bother saying goodbye because that meant that they might never see each other again. Jisung didn’t think of himself as a superstitious person but he definitely didn’t want to be a cheesy person. A shoulder pat and promise was good enough for now.

(The people staying behind are Mark Tuan, Jackson Wang, BamBam, Eric, Wonho, and Jaehyun -we just went over why-)

Jisung joins the group and the perfect time as Chan begins a big speech that will probably be inspirational but he won’t give himself credit for.

“This speech isn’t going to be anything inspiring,” He starts.

Minho leans over to Felix standing next to him, “This is what he says when he says something really inspirational.”

Chan continues, “It may not be much but the glade was our home for a really long time. A lot of us basically grew up here. It’s been three years since the first of us. The creators have taken so much from us and now they want to take our glade away from us? I won’t let them do this to you. I won’t leave you guys behind. I would lead you guys to the end of the earth and back…” Chan sighed before noticing the group of boys trying to keep in their laughter. This prompted Chan to turn around, “Minho?”

Minho, who had been mimicking Chan’s words behind him the entire time froze in his spot at the suddenness. He fixed his face and put his hands down. Sure, he should be focused but he knew that he also needed to keep his fellow gladers spirits high.

“Do you want to add anything?” Chan asked through gritted teeth in fake annoyance, thankful for Minho’s actions.

He cleared his throat as he stepped forward to try and make himself look as professional as possible. He couldn’t think of anything inspiring, at least no in comparison to Chan’s speech, so he said the first things that came to mind.

He waved his hands around for a moment in ponder, “Um… be careful. Don’t die,” That was it. That was Minho’s speech.

“Oh, dude, that was inspiring,” Mark(Lee) laughed as he turned to Johnny who wasn’t nearly as amused.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one gets left behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone gets left behind;)  
> if you read my chapter notes then you get told the truth but if you don't then I'm not sorry shfbsk  
> okay! we are technically at the end of the story!!  
> this is actually two chapters mixed together because the first chapter didn't meet my word count-  
> but there is still one more chapter:0
> 
> -logan<3

It’s silent as they run beside their breathing and the sound of their feet hitting the cement below them. Seungmin is leading the way for the most part with Chan and Minho right next to him. The rest of the boys follow behind them at a steady pace. 

Johnny is the first to notice where they are headed, “Hey, where are you taking us? This section isn’t open for another week,” He says beginning to come to a stop.

The others follow in suit. They barely trusted Seungmin enough to lead them out and if they found out he was going the wrong way then it wouldn’t be good for him. 

“I know you guys don’t trust me and I really don’t blame you but if you really want out then we have to go this way,” Seungmin said.

Chan looked back at the rest of them and nodded that they kept following. Obviously, if it was a dead-end then he would have some choice words for Seungmin but he needed to give him some trust until the time came.

The group continued their trek into the section that was supposed to be closed. Johnny didn’t let them forget the entire way there. He was in the middle of saying so, again when they finally turned the corner leading into the section to find it wide open. Johnny’s eyes were almost as wide.

“I thought it was supposed to be closed,” Mark tried to tease.

“It is supposed to be closed,” Seungmin said, “This is how you were supposed to exit the maze. It isn’t some shortcut that I know. Once you realized how you were supposed to escape, the creators planned to leave section eight open until you did escape.”

Saying this out loud made Seungmin realize something. They know that they’re trying to escape and yet they have not been stopped once. He wasn’t surprised if plans had changed but there hasn’t been one obstacle in the way since they left the glade. He stays suspicious as they continue through the section in a walk.

It’s once again silent as they make their way to the griever hole. Of course, when he first explained that their exit was home for grievers, the gladers were not even going to humor the idea. It took a lot of convincing to finally get them to realize that Seungmin was telling the truth with that one. Originally there was supposed to be a whole elaborate thing they needed to get and do to find the space but it seemed that everything had been left open. 

“Something’s wrong,” Seungmin finally voiced, it echoed in the silence that surrounded them. 

“Besides the fact that section eight is open and we’re trying to go be all buddy-buddy with the grievers?” Johnny asked. 

Of course, something was wrong. So many things were wrong. They were trying to escape via a griever hole and the place they were trying to escape was a giant maze that they had been in for over three years. Mechanical creatures roamed around as they pleased now, though none had been seen yet, and the best part of it all- they don’t even know if the outside is any better than where they are now. So, one could definitely say that something is wrong.

“Something should’ve happened to stop us from escaping. It’s,” Seungmin stopped and turned around as if the thing he was talking about would happen at that moment, “It’s not supposed to be this easy,” He continued.

Changbin was already towards the front but he stepped out from behind the few gladers that were in front of him, “The only one stopping us at this point is you,” He pointed out.

“Just show us the way out. We’ll deal with what we need to as it comes our way,” Jisung said. 

Seungmin walked down the open corridor that even Johnny hadn’t seen before. He tried to take it with caution but with every step, he felt more pressure coming from the boys behind him. He looks around warily as if something is going to spring out of nowhere and attack them. 

“Johnny?” Seungmin calls as he turns around. The taller isn’t far behind and takes a few steps forward, “Come here,” He motions the other to come closer.

They’re standing in front of a circular opening, inside is a screen with numbers. In order to officially escape a code must be entered. Of course, it might be difficult for anyone else and Johnny is the only one with it memorized, though he doesn’t know it.

Seungmin gestured for Johnny to step inside the opening that was barely large enough for him. This didn’t seem wrong to him but Johnny was immediately apprehensive.

“Absolutely not!” He took a step back, “I’m not going to let you drag me into some death trap.”

“It’s our way out,” Seungmin tried to explain but when Johnny still wasn’t having it he stepped inside of the room himself, “See? Not a death trap.”

Of course, this had the others just pushing Johnny to move forward, “Why do I have to do it?” He suddenly burst out, “Why can’t Jisung do it?” He pointed at the younger, “Or Mark! Make Mark do it,” He began grabbing at the other and trying to push him forward.

“You’re the only one who knows the code,” Seungmin states.

“I am?” 

“You are,” Seungmin gestures for him to come forward once again, and this time Johnny complies, “It’s just the order that the sections are open, starting with the one we’re in.”

This finally makes Johnny realize that he does know the code. Seungmin has everyone step inside and they couldn’t be closer. By the time the last glader had stepped inside, there was room for maybe a shuffle in one direction.

It wasn’t awkward for most of the boys as they didn’t mind the small space for the short amount of time. Jisung, however, did mind because he was basically forehead to forehead with Minho. They didn’t know why they avoided each other since Jisung had returned from the maze, given Jisung was also in glader jail for most of it, but it really didn’t matter if they put it into perspective. They figured that they should really talk about it more when they finally get out of here.

“Johnny if you don’t hurry up and put in that code I am going to ruin your shins and you’ll never run again!” Jae finally shouted.

“I’m getting there!” Johnny responded. Seungmin had just finished explaining how to enter the code.

“Okay- 83715264,” Johnny mumbled under his breath as he typed in the numbers.

Seungmin turns to the rest of them as Johnny completes his task, “This is how you would’ve escaped.”

Before any of them could react, a spiral door closed at the opening trapping them in dark. They let out shouts of surprise and lower to the ground for a moment. It goes quite quickly as they all rise from their spots. It’s impossible to see but they keep their sanity by grabbing onto each other to make sure that they are still where they are supposed to be.

“Ah, yes, this is our escape,” Jae starts, “Death,” He says in a light-hearted way to keep himself and the others from getting too nervous about the situation.

“God?” Wooyoung shouts into the dark followed by the sound of a light thud, “Ouch! Who just hit me?”

Changbin is heard laughing in the silence that came after. Many gladers weren’t expecting the interaction, especially in the dark and amidst the serious situation.

“Changbin! I didn’t know you could laugh,” Felix exclaimed sending the surrounding boys into fits of laughter.

Of course, Changbin is unamused by this comment and begins to defend himself. Though there was no need to defend himself at all, it had just become a habit at this point. 

The sound of air depressurizing startles them once again as another door on the wall opposite the first one begins to open. A few of them back away in fear that something is going to burst through the doors and attack them. Another few get ready to fight for the exact same reason. The rest of the gladers stand and shield their eyes from the sudden light. 

Seungmin waits for the group to look like they’re ready to walk out of the room before doing so himself. Jisung rolls his eyes at the fact that he just walks away like he knows the place, but then it dawns on him that Seungmin most definitely does know the place.

Outside of the dark room, they had been in is a long hallway. It goes in either direction for what could be miles, which made sense knowing how large the maze was. Lights were still turning on in the distance from each side which led the group to believe that they might be motion sensed.

Seungmin looks around for a moment, confused. He knew for sure that something wasn’t right. He didn’t know what it was but the original plan had fallen through or maybe the creators gave up on them but the entire place just felt too quiet.

“I knew it,” Seungmin says, catching the rest of their attention in the silent hallway, “Something is wrong. We have to go, now.”

Seungmin begins a stride to the right side of the hallway. The gladers have no choice but to follow as Seungmin is the only one who knows where he is going. 

“Care to explain?” Chan asks, catching up to Seungmin at the front.

“There isn’t time. We need to get to the control room for the section. We might find answers there but until then all I can say is that something is wrong.”

Chan doesn’t know why but he takes it as an answer for now. If Seungmin of all people is saying that something is wrong then there has to be.

Finally, they approach a door, above it, there is a light that blinks ‘EXIT’. It was comedic almost. All these years, all this work, all this effort, and it was as simple as a sign.

Seungmin opens the door without hesitation and is shown a massacre. The gladers don’t follow at first. They just stare at the blood and bodies on the ground in front of them. Seungmin was right. There was definitely something fishy going on. 

“No no no,” Seungmin begins to mumble to himself as he runs his hands through his hair. He rushes further into the room to where broken screens and monitors sat.

The rest of the gladers begin their steps cautiously into the room. They’re scared now. Were these the creators? What happened to them? 

Once in the room, they only glance at Seungmin rushing around the place to find something. Their eyes are glued to every other piece of technology. They recognized it but it was almost foreign to most of them at this point.

Felix’s eyes were glued onto a button on a panel not too far away as he wandered about the room. He didn’t know why but he had the sudden urge to press it as if something in the back of his mind told him that he needed to do so. 

Changbin took notice of Felix's wandering eyes, “Don’t touch anything,” he mentions before walking to Chan. They didn’t know what anything in that room did so it was for their own safety that they didn’t touch anything. 

They moved away from any dead body they came across and after a full sweep of the room, they turned to Chan for what to do next. This was the exit so where was the way out? Chan turned to Seungmin who was moving stray papers out of panels and places. 

“What are you looking for?” Chan called over.

This seemed to bring Seungmin out of his focus as he glances over at them. An idea seems to dawn on him and you could see it in his eyes.

“Have any of you remembered anything?” He asks. His voice seems rushed which puts the gladers on more edge.

“What do you mean?” Jisung asks. A few gladers are heard muttering no’s and shrugging.

Seungmin sighs in frustration. It was just going to be easier to tell them straight up and he would deal with the rest later.

“I mean, is anything in this room sticking out to you?” He gestures around them. Jae’s hand catches his attention as it’s raised like a schoolchild, “Yes! Jae, what is it?”

Jae looks around the room and then gestures violently, “Everyone is dead!”

The younger sighs in defeat all the while Felix and Jisung are thinking about the same thing. Of course, Seungmin takes notice of their faces deep in thought, “You two remember something. What is it?”

Felix is the first to speak up, “There is a button over there. I can’t remember what it does and I don’t know how to explain it, but it keeps bothering me,” He says.

Seungmin turns his gaze to Jisung without saying anything, expecting an explanation. He feels relief inside of him and he doesn’t know what he’ll do afterward but he knows what he has to do. He can’t feel sorry for them and he can’t let it get to him.

Jisung points to a different panel, near the first one, “It’s the same for me over there.”

Seungmin almost cheers at this information. This is all he needs to prove his loyalty to the creators. He walks over to the button that Felix pointed out, keeping his eyes on them the entire time.

“What does the button do?” Felix asks, now wary with the situation.

Seungmin exhales with a simple smile, “This.”

As soon as Seungmin’s finger hits the button a siren begins going off. A giant door behind them begins to open, it leads into a hallway that has another door at the end which is also opening. They watch as people in black protective gear begin to make their way towards them. 

They’re confused as they look back at Seungmin who isn’t even looking at them. His eyes are on the door they entered through which had a completely different set of people in white protective gear making their way to them. The two didn’t look the same at all but they each had a common factor, they had guns.

The group coming from behind them begins shooting, but not at them, at the ones in white. Once they make it to the gladers they begin filing them back the way they came while still shooting at the other group. Chan attempts to stand with them to make sure they all get out safely, but they kept urging him to keep moving which gave him no choice. He didn’t know who these people were but they seemed to be on their side for now. 

Felix didn’t feel the pain at first because he was so distracted but when he does he lets out a shout. His head is pulsing and if he didn’t know any better then he would’ve expected it to explode. He can’t move at all and this is what gets him shot in the chest.

The people in white weren’t shooting bullets like those in black but what hit Felix might as well have been one. His whole body shook as he fell to the ground. He hadn’t even attempted to start moving towards the door. 

Changbin turned around when he noticed that Felix wasn’t in his line of sight which caused him to see the sight behind him. He began rushing back to the room he had just left to get him but the people in black were already falling back as besides Felix, they had all left the room. This had them grabbing onto Changbin and dragging him with them down the hallway while he protested.

“Stop! Let me go! We can’t just leave him!”

A soldier, if you will, held onto him tighter, “Trust me, kid, they aren’t going to kill him. But, if you want your friends to get out of here then we have to go, now.”

Seungmin stood and watched the gladers leave. He was still for most of it and cursed that they had only managed to obtain Felix. This thought made his head jerk to the other button, the one Jisung had pointed out. He practically jumped to press it and turned back to look at his old friends.

Jisung began feeling exactly what Felix had felt. His head began searing in pain and it wasn’t long before he dropped to the ground. Minho is right next to him attempting to help him up or move him but it wasn’t going too well. A few more of these soldiers come over and they begin to drag Jisung to the exit as well.

Once through the door at the end of the hallway, they are met with nothing but heat. The air is hot and the sun is even hotter. It’s almost orange as sand and rubble lie in front of them. They see a helicopter that they’re being directed to and though they don’t want to, they get in. 

Something about being with people they didn’t know in a helicopter was way less appealing than being stuck in the mess. This was their only choice. There were no seats but they couldn’t really complain. Silence is not obtainable as the sound of the helicopter taking off was mixed with the sounds of their heavy breathing and Jisung in pain. 

They sat and stared at the group of people across from them while they still attempted to get Jisung in a comfortable position. They watched in horror as he squirmed in pain. There were gasps and screams beginning to leave his throat. Minho felt this urge to go comfort him but he was afraid to get in the way.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Jae says trying to move to his fellow glader.

They had pulled out a syringe with a blue liquid in it. They were confused about it at first but they began preparing to inject Jisung with it and though Jae wasn’t the best medical professional, he wanted to be careful.

“It’s alright. It’s going to make him remember,” A man said jumping in the way. He took off the mask he had been previously wearing, “He’s going through what you guys call ‘the changing’. That button that your friend pressed activates it for a certain few of you.”

“I thought you needed to be stung to go through the changing,” Changbin said, he still barely trusted Jisung, he wasn’t going to let anything slide with these guys. Especially after what just happened.

He nodded, “I promise we will talk about this more when we get you to a safe place but for now I suggest that you guys rest,” He takes a breath in, “Things are about to change.”

They don’t know how to press on for more answers so they sit in silence as they stare at Jisung who has calmed down. He seems to be unconscious but he is still breathing which all they can really ask for at this point.

They exchange looks between themselves. They aren’t happy. They’re confused and scared. They want to go home, wherever home is. Their silence is also out of respect for those that couldn’t be there, Felix, Hyunjin, everyone back in the glade, and everyone who was gone even before that. If anything, they would rather be there. They would rather live the same day over and over again than to live where they didn’t know if they were going to live or day come morning. 

Though they had left the maze behind it would never ease their minds which had so many questions about what the side effects of their experiences would be.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> !!! epilogue !!!

Felix doesn’t know what he feels first. Was it the chill air that seemed to surround him? Or was it the cold metal touching the skin beneath him? His eyes open and he sees nothing but white. He glances around and notices that he is in a completely white room. He’s confused and feels disoriented.

He notices a figure standing near him. He doesn’t recognize them at first because their face is turned away. He is trying to find any facial feature that he can pinpoint but it’s all just blurry. The person whips their head around when they notice Felix begin to move.

“Oh no,” They breathe, “I wish you hadn’t woken up now.”

Felix knows who it is immediately. It throws him out of his groggy state and his eyes are wide open. It’s Seungmin.

“Seungmin? What’s going on?” Felix starts as he tries to sit up but fails as his limbs won’t move. Another simple look around and he sees that he is restrained, “What’s happening?” He says, facing Seungmin again.

He begins to struggle against the leather bindings as panic rises in his gut. The last thing he remembers is being in a lab then these people came in and started shooting. He winces as a dull pain returns to his head while remembering what he felt. 

“Look, you should try to go back to sleep. It doesn’t hurt that,” Seungmin says.

Felix is confused and concerned for his safety, “What does that mean?” He shouts, “What are you going to do to me?” He doesn’t care that he sounds scared because he is scared. He doesn’t want to feel pain. He doesn’t want to be there at all.

At this point, Felix is thrashing very violently against the restraints hoping that one of them might give out. It’s beginning to make the skin around his wrists and ankles sore from the friction. 

Two people in lab coats burst into the room. He didn’t notice until now but Seungmin had also been wearing a lab coat. Their first destination after greeting Seungmin is coming straight to Felix. This has him panicking even more and continuing to trash. Their hands are only moments away as they begin holding him down. 

“Stop! What are you doing?” Felix shouts. He is terrified of what is next to come, “Seungmin! Make them stop!”

Seungmin turns around with a syringe in his hand, “The calmer you are, the less this hurts. I promise,” He tries to explain in a calm manner.

“No! Don’t come near me! Stay away!” He begins to beg and cry. 

“Keep him still,” Seungmin orders the other doctors as he moves to Felix’s bare arm.

After searching for a vein, even while Felix attempted to make it as difficult as possible, Seungmin began injecting him with the mystery liquid. This caused noises of pain and struggle to come from his throat. He doesn’t think he has ever felt something more agonizing in his life.

It’s not long before the needle is out and back onto the tray but that doesn’t stop Felix from struggling and pleading to be let go. Seungmin didn’t flinch once. His facial expressions and body language had been calm the entire time which disgusted Felix to his core. How could he do this to anyone, let alone his own friend?

“His adrenaline isn’t high enough. We need to get his heart beating faster or it won’t work correctly,” A doctor mentions to Seungmin. 

Felix doesn’t know if this is supposed to be a trick to get him to calm down but he doesn’t know what any of it means. Still, he tries to slow his heart rate while still struggling against the restraints. 

“I think I know something that might help,” Seungmin replies as he moves to the doors. 

Already, Felix can feel his heart slowing down. In his brain, the danger from before was over and he was generally safe for the most part. Though he was still struggling, his body was exhausted from an event that took less than five minutes. 

“You can come in,” Seungmin says to someone outside the door. 

Felix’s mind ran through so many scenarios of who it could be which led him to his next thought. Did they escape? Had his friends found a way to get away from these crazy people? Were they safe?

There is movement in the corner of his eye which makes them dart to the source quickly. His breath stops and so do his thoughts. No. It couldn’t be… His heart started racing again and a ringing in the room seemed to pierce his eardrums. His eyes would have popped out of his sockets if it weren’t for the fact that he needed them.

He utters a single name in disbelief. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He remembered how hurt they all were but was it all just some trick? He didn’t know what to believe anymore.

“Hyunjin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that concludes Maze of Memories!!!   
> I thought I would've finished this story by now and I have honestly been using it as a pass time so I didn't have to do any school but I am super proud that I got this far.   
> I started this mid-October and now two months later in December, it is finally done.  
> I hope you all liked it and it was worth the read:)  
> I know there are a lot of typos that I haven't fixed and I will fix them in the future but I just want to bask in the glory of having finally finished a story.  
> thank you for staying with me and thank you for reading
> 
> -logan<3


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